


Shattered Faith: Yet Another Thread

by Caffeinated_blood



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: ? - Freeform, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Author Commentary, Bullshit That Makes Sense, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Soulmate Happenings, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Lots of it, M/M, Magic Swords, Magical Science Shenanigans, Oops, Puppy Love, Soz for stabbing you teehee, Tags Are Hard, You just gotta get thru the suffering first, and, creators, in the midst of multiversal corruption, yay for Unplanned Plot Things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:47:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26040622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caffeinated_blood/pseuds/Caffeinated_blood
Summary: Writes started it ksjdkjskjdksdk
Relationships: Cross/Dream, Cross/Shattered!Dream, Error/Ink, Killer/Epic, PJ/Faith, Reaper/Geno, Sans/Sans (Undertale), most of these will be shown in passing and will not be the focus of the story
Comments: 58
Kudos: 29





	Shattered Faith: Yet Another Thread

**Author's Note:**

  * For [writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom/gifts).



writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

anyways these days I'm just thinking about Epic in a hoodie, a skirt...

and tiddies

just ecto tiddies

and he just gives off the 'ara ara' vibes

and i have no idea where this came from

but I just look at Epic, and his fanart, and all i can think is-

a very chill big bro to Cross.

could definitely be a very chill big sis too.

but without actually going ahead and being a girl?

idk the anime onee-san has a vibe

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

i hate how i understand anime onee-san vibe kjadkcdbhvbfj

Writes youve opened eyes that i did not want opened jdhckjdshk

i'll never look at Epic the same again

also he'd definitely pull off the big sib role

lyk people arent sure how theyre related but they just roll with it

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

_Good._

Epic: Hey bruh.

Cross: *instantly just throws his arms around Epic in an exhausted hug*

Epic: Woop. One of those days huh?

Cross: *makes a vague noise*

Epic: Aw bruh. Let's just take a nap ok?

Cross: *nods against chest*

Nightmare: .....Wait I still need-

Epic: *snaps fingers, opens a portal, steps through it while hugging Cross, ignoring Nightmare* Nap time.

When it comes to Cross Epic has no chill.

Like.

He can and will casually get up in the Destroyer's face if it means Cross is being threatened.

Epic's insomniac ass can't bring itself to care beyond Cross and he can and will fight Error and Ink if they anyone tries to target Cross.

Error has a slight fear of the calm way Epic stares Death in the face. Sometimes literally. Reaper doesn't know what to do with Epic either.

Reaper: .........You're on the edge of life and death, but not in the way Geno is. It's confusing.

Epic: Tell me something I don't know lol

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

why do i get the feeling Geno and Epic would end up bonding in some convoluted way bc of Cross shenanigans

like

Cross gets lost and has the portal open to the Save Screen by accident and Geno just sees this monochrome skeleton and they have a mini stare-off and Geno goes "Grillby's?"

and Cross gets hit with nostalgia when he takes the offered bag and ends up crying but with a wobbling straight face and hes shocked when Geno nods and goes "Its alright. Cry it out."

and thats how Epic finds them. A blubbering Cross swaddled in one of Genos many fluffy blankets

....

i dont understand how i got that scenario but im rolling with it hdcbyusjvsu

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

Cross literally lost his entire world, by his own hands, has no father figure, killed his own brother, was tortured by the occasional visits Ink made during his isolation(with long periods of time in between) with only XChara in his head, got taken advantage of by Nightmare, is tortured even further by the possibility that whatever feelings of affection he has for Dream are all fake and is generally a mess so yes he needs two chill mom friends.

Epic and Geno fit those qualifications.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

Cross has Issues hes not quite comfortable Dealing With so yes it only makes sense

he does need mom friends

Geno gladly adopts this sad skele and Epic has no qualms with this

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

Geno and Epic also support each other sometimes, like they just be there for each other.

Some days Cross would go missing and Epic will be worrying for days, and he would go visit Geno in the save screen, not sleeping.

Some days Geno feels lonely because of the job Reaper has, and he will call up Epic for rounds of video games or to binge watch anime.

They not only support Cross, they support each other.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

awww im always a sucker for the found family trope hsdbkhvs

one day Reaper jokingly asks Cross if he'd like to be officially adopted bc at this point ppl were talking and the rumor mill was going crazy

and to his surprise its Geno who whips around to stare at him with wide glossy sockets

and hes like ''oh hey nvm'' and Cross freezes at the sudden clench in his soul and Reaper continues with "uve already been adopted lmao oopsies"

and while Cross is struggling to compartmentalize these New Emotions He Doesnt Understand, Geno and Epic swaddle him in his favorite blanket for anime night

they were family now. no take backs. fuck not having official papers.

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

Killer: Hey Cross.

Cross: ?

Killer: Your sisters got it going on~

Cross: Dude I will actually murder you.

Epic, appears with snacks and some mangas through a portal: Hey-a, what you guys doing?

Killer: If I'm lucky, I will be doing-

Cross: *smacks Killer* Nothing.

......

im just imagining that ecto bodies have a natural form to them according to the person.

And like.

Epic's ecto tiddies happen to be bigger than a lot of peoples. On par with Lust's.

And the most thing he does is put a drink between them without using his hands and just drinking from there.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

Killer is constantly cockblocked by an irate Cross everytime Epic comes to visit

(Epic totally notices this pattern and is endlessly amused by the lengths Cross goes in his blocking)

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

Epic is the hot older brother that knows he's hot and uses it to his advantage.

Cross: Epic is too good for anyone at this point.

The first time he actually blushes he looks more cute than cool.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

Killer immediately starts blushing bc hes a dork who has a crush and Cross is unimpressed by how quickly Killer melts.

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

The reason why Epic blushes is because Killer jokingly kabedoned him.

and now they're both a blushing mess because neither of them know how to deal with getting actual feelings involved in flirting.

Cross: Hey so I heard Killer was being a pain again?

Epic: *blushes purple*

Cross: .........

Cross: *picks up his blades and starts to leave the room* Hold on imma kill a bitch.

Epic: Cross No Stop!!!! *is holding Cross’s jacket*

\---------------------

Oh shit oh fuck-

another au idea.

Through a series of unfortunate events, Cross ends up having to fight Shattered!Dream while pregnant with Dream's child, and in order to make sure Faith (Cream kid) at least has a chance at living the best life an outcode can get, he leaves Faith in Epic's hands, right before going off and sealing Shattered!Dream....

and dying in the process because his soul is an essential part of that seal.

Now Epic lost a brother, but gained a nephew.

He's not okay with this development.

But by void, he was going to make the most of it he can.

For a while he starts travelling through AUs with this child, never really settling down, not able to bring himself to wait long enough to let the past catch up with him, and the others don't know about the kid, not until Nightmare actively searches for Epic after four months and finds him holding a crying baby bones in his arms, with Epic himself crying as well.

"I don't know what to do." and its so strange, so unusual to hear the other choking up on tears, about ready to break down. Nightmare can feel the negativity festering to the point it could potentially kill Epic.

He can't have that.

He's in passive form, and had to take up charge of handling both the positivity and the negativity of the multiverse. He had a hand in the sealing of Shattered!Dream.

So Nightmare goes over, gently touches Epic on the shoulder and then brings him back over to headquarters where the rest of the gang, Blue, Ink and Error are waiting.

After that is a whole process of questioning if he's even fit to take care of a child, if he can provide anything for a kid, _what the hell were you thinking Cross?_ and Epic goes through another breakdown when Faith giggles and calls him 'Mama'.

well, he doesn't directly go through a breakdown with Faith there. He just stiffly hands Faith to Blue, and then goes to cry in another room.

Epic becomes the most overprotective parent of the multiverse, right next to Error and Ink who are raising PJ, and Geno and Reaper who have Goth.

Four years into taking care of Faith, Epic gets used to being called Mama, even though he keeps feeling guilty, like he's stealing something that should belong to Cross, and Nightmare gets used to being called 'Uncle Mare'.

Both Nightmare and Epic teach Faith magic, Epic teaching him the basics of it, and Nightmare teaching him how to control his aura inherited by Dream, and give it form. It's when Faith is 10 that Epic finally, finally decides to bring Faith to where Cross's grave laid, and officially introduce him to his parents.

Faith: ...So that's my biological mom?

Epic, voice thick: Yes.

Faith: ....*hugs Epic* were you friends?

Epic: ...we were like brothers.

Faith: Ok. I'm not going to ask what happened to him. You're still my mom though.

Epic: *chokes* *fiercely hugs Faith with tears in his eyes* Oh my God Faith you're going to make me cry-

Faith’s sword teacher becomes X Chara and X Frisk.

———————————

PJ and Faith end up being close friends. Faith is stressed because he has expectations for himself from learning how Cross was a legendary swordskeleton, and Shattered Dream’s story is wide spread enough that it causes him to not have many friends,

PJ has expectations from his peers and from himself because his Dad is the Destroyer, and his mom if the Guardian of the Multiverse.

X Chara and X Frisk are both ruthless teachers, and Faith starts training under them when he reaches the age of 11.

He meets them through Epic, whom he told “Sword fighting was a part of my other mom right? I want to learn.”

XFrisk is accepting, but XChara is biased a bit at the beginning, like, this kid was Cross’s, but also this kid was Dream’s.

Internally, he viewed Faith as a product of grief for about a month or so into training him, before Faith personally went and said “I’m not either of my parents! If you’re going to hate me I’m not going to allow it to be because of THAT!”

And then they duke it out.

Of course, Faith loses, but manages to make an impression on XChara by nicking him on the face.

\---------------------

The one thing that surprises Faith when others talk about Cross is that apparently he was the one that was OPENLY protective to Epic. Epic was protective as well it seems, which wasn't anything new, but his mom was even more protective than his mom.

\---------------------

Epic: ........

Killer: .....Epic?

Epic: LOOK AT MY SON- *brings out the entire photo album*

Killer: *screech of terror*

\---------------------

Epic, putting a hand to his face with a smile: My child is so cute.

Ink: Haha! He might have a lot of people wanting to date him in the future.

Epic, sill smiling with a hand on his face: If they come after him I will gut them like a fish.

Ink: Ha...haha... oh.

PJ, in the distance, playing with Faith: ......I have a sudden fear for my future.

—————————

Faith ends up healing the hole the group feels in the absence of Cross.

Not making it disappear, no, not replacing him.

But its like disinfecting and tending to an open wound that will leave a permanent scar over time.

—————————

Of course at some point corruption leaks through anyway, not because Ink and Error were being careless, but because not even the amount of love Cross felt was enough to stop Shattered from brewing further in corruption during his confinement.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

i love how you just kept adding to the bits already there and lyk honestly im not even that surprised you up and went all out with another au idea but this is awesome jdnkjvfhkbkhabdlk

aslo would the events leading up to Dream Shattering be the same as the canon one or?

i need background stories Writes kvdbvksfbvksbl had to look up who Faith is too skjkhdbhks i am not well-versed in ship children there arE TOO MANY TO KEEP TRACK OF-

pls gimme details on how Cross managed the sealing pls.

id love to watch (and help with) Dream's descent into his own negativity too.

dcksdbvhsbahjvbjhsfbab

how did you even get this train started lmao

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

SKSKSKSKSK

OK

So here how things happened in my head-

Dream ate the corrupted apple basically, so same with the original story line more or less. Eating corrupted apple because he wanted to understand his brother, or show his brother he does care.... though I'm adding in a bit of my own thing here.

Before that, Cross and Dream were in an open relationship.... but Cross felt himself lacking, seeing the way Dream longed for a past that was happy.

The heartbreaking thing here, is that while Cross was pregnant, he went up to Dream held his hand and asked him, "I know you regret losing that relationship you had with your brother... but do you regret us?" and he placed Dream's hand on his stomach, where their lil Faith were growing.

Dream had smiled, hugged him close and had told him no, he doesn't.

 _'Was all that a lie then?_ Cross thought upon first encountering Shattered!Dream, Faith three weeks away from birth. _Did I, did Faith mean anything to you at all?_

And Cross still loved him, even then.

Epic will never forgive Dream for that betrayal.

The sealing was managed like this.

Cross was a part of the sealing, but Nightmare had to play a major role in the doing of it.

Cross gave up his soul basically, and as cliche as it is Nightmare used the love, compassion, and perseverance Cross has as a lock to place upon Shattered!Dream, turning him into stone. Basically neutralizing the corruption, but also his own brother in the process.

Nightmare sometimes asks Epic if he hates him.

At the beginning Epic couldn't look him in the eye at all.

Epic still has trouble answering that question, but he and Nightmare at least get along over Faith.

Cross basically died in the process... well technically. Physically he died, and now his soul acts as a barrier to keep Shattered inside.

Also, tbh, Faith isn't a well known Cream kid, and I find his story sad, so..I'm kind of wanted to give him a lil happiness?

And my brain does weird things. I just thought of that Steven Universe moment where Steven tells Pearl he thinks he's pretty great, and I just thought Cross as Rose, Pearl as Epic and bam

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

well fuck my feels with that last bit of imagery why dont you kjsddfkjfhkf (coincidentally im listening to my SU playlist skdbkdsbks and i just finished 'Its over, isnt it')

okay

one, FUCKING OW WHY DO WE KEEP MAKING CROSS SUFFER

two, THAT PRELUDE TO THE DEATH SCENE OF CROSS HAVING HIS HEART TO HEART WITH DREAM KILLED MY FEELS HOW DARE

and three, i absolutely want to see how Epic and Nightmare heal from their losses bc they both lost a brother that day and i imagine it kills them on the inside when they see a reminder of said brother (i.e each other and Faith)

just

the amount of angst in this one is real and im seeing scenes play out in my head ksdbhjrbgfuiyfdjh

a lot of breakdowns definitely

little toddler Faith waking up in the middle of the night to sleep next to Epic and asking him "why are you crying mama?" when Epic hold them to him and Epic going "its nothing baby, go back to sleep" and Faith doing that little yawning action that Cross always does and hes barely holding back from sobbing again

Nightmare moving his brother's stone statue to a secluded garden in his realm and visiting it most days in quiet silence and coming back to his room with his body shaking from repressed heaving of breath and having, _needing_ to compose himself because he was solely responsible for the balance now that Dream-- _oh stars Dream_ \--and he breaks down in the garden eventually, tears streaming down his face in the violet color he never thought hed see again and he hates that this was what its all came down to. he hates that Dream cant even see him like this again, knowing how much his brother missed him and knowing Dream only constantly asked him to talk instead of fight not at all helping him calm down.

little Faith having to grow up hearing so much about the parents they never knew but everyone else did. having to hear about how good and heroic and seemingly perfect Dream was and how much of a master swordsman Cross was, how he was such a good friend and brother and person and how much they loved each other even though they were on conflicting sides.

Nightmare and Epic getting into a screaming match when the bad days get even worse and they blow up at each other and Faith stumbling into one and hearing all about how their uncles have to hide their grief and pain from them and how hard it was to even _look_ at them sometimes and they hiccup out sobs with their fist to their mouth to keep from being found out

...

its the little build ups that hit me the most you know? hsbvhfbvhkb;vkhfbvhas

how do you keep dragging me into these Writes jsffvbdfhbhj;z

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

i have no idea its a talent

Hell yes so many breakdowns, so many fights they try to keep in secret.

"Do you hate me for what I did, Epic?" Nightmare asks as they both stay in the garden. He wanted privacy for this conversation. It's been 2 months since he found Epic and Faith, and bought them both to his castle.

"....You know what I hate?" the eerily blank voice of Epic's answers.

"Cross loved him." he continues, sounding like he wants to rip out his own tongue, break his own bones. Nightmare can test the grief, thick in the air. "He loved him to the point he would give up the whole multiverse in a heartbeat."

A shuddering breath. "I guess..." a choking sound. "I guess I... I was foolish, and naive to think that Dream wouldn't choose you over that. Hehe."

"I wish I hated you." and then a sob.

Silence reigns between them save for the sobs Epic emits, the first time he's spoken more than a few sentences, the first time he's actually cried, and Nightmare feels exhausted, guilt upon guilt weighing him down in his soul...

\--------------

The Crew doesn't get involved when it comes to fights like these. They do get involved when they're having a bad day, but not when they're fighting each other like this. They know that the only thing they can make sure is that innocent by standers (Faith) don't hear this conversation.

\--------------

At some point Faith disappears, and this sends both Epic and Nightmare into a frenzy of searching.

Epic can _feel_ that Faith is close- somewhere- and he looks deranged trying

And when he finally manages to find him it's on the edge of a rip that leads towards the True Void, the place Creators themselves can't even reach, and Epic panics, uses magic to immediately grab Faith and tries not to yell as he hugs him close.

"What were you thinking?!"

"...I wanted to stop hurting you." a sniffle. "I don't wanna remind you of him."

and Epic freezes.

(g'niiiiight)

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH "I WISH I HATED YOU" IS SO RAW AND VULNERABLE TO ME I LOVE IT

proposal for Nightmare and Epic hugging it out in front of Dream's statue, both of them in tears, both of them grieving, and a little Faith runs out of the bushes with their magic streaming down their face, their tiny body stumbling and rattling with their sobs and tackles them both into a hug and just babbling out "Are uncles friends now? no more sad? no more sad please!" and the two end up laughing over their sobs and bringing little Faith between them in a hug and leaning against the statue.

...they swear to hell and back they could feel a soft, barely there warmth wrapping around them that day...

\--------------

Epic brings back a trembling Faith to Nightmare and locks himself in his room for a few hours. The Crew can hear his louder screams, and Faith flinches at each one, so Nightmare goes up there to maybe yell at Epic a bit, bc he's going to scare Faith and nobody needs a repeat of them running away-!

but then he sees Epic, his comforter wrapped around him, the room in utter disarray, the static of magic so potent he feels his own sparking in response but he smothers it. they didnt need or want another fight right now. he approaches the ball and sits on the edge of the bed when the ball speaks. "You know what they said?" a broken laugh, "they didnt want to remind us of them" and Nightmare freezes, feeling a numb chill that settles into his bones. _"they said they wanted to stop hurting us,"_ Epic emerges, skull flushed and pale and sockets brimming with tears, staring into his own unseeing sockets. Epic brings Nightmare into a tight hug as Night starts trembling, and they cry into each other for a couple more hours before a creak from the door gets their attention. Faith peeks around it and steps inside, clutching their crossed arms, tears beading at the corner of their sockets and Night and Epic coax them into settling between them both, Epic swaps his comforter for a dry one and wraps it around them.

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

While Fait was growing up, Nightmare and Epic avoided each other a lot. Hugging would maybe be something they did like, rarely.

Epic doesn't know Nightmare, he acknowledges, and he doesn't trust him enough to do something as intimate as a hug. Not to mention the fact that he can't take the image of Cross willingly giving up his soul to Nightmare, and Nightmare using that to seal Shattered!Dream.

You know how you would hear a certain tone of voice in a bad situation, and then hearing that certain tone of voice later on will keep reminding you of that bad situation for a whole year or so? Nightmare is that certain tone of voice to Epic, and the bad situation is the image of Cross willingly dying for someone Epic will resent forever.

Nightmare has experience when it comes to resentment directed towards him. And doesn't think him being around Epic will direct that anger towards the right target. Mislead anger was such a common thing, and he knows his presence would cause that, so he steps away.

There are times, when past his guilt, Nightmare feels angry at Dream, questions his actions. Rightfully so.

He's aware it's not all on him. In no way did he force Dream to pick up that apple. They could have gotten along even without the fights. Now that he's mourned, for a year or so, he remembers clearly how they were at a stalemate due to Cross being their mutual friend, and Epic being protective.

That could have been an opportunity for Dream to...

Not eat the fucking apples.

In other words, no Dream is not innocent. No one is, really, both Nightmare and Dream are at fault, but Cross and Epic got caught up in their problems because of how close they were to them. Well, Cross was. And he ended up paying the price for Dream not being able to let go of a past, which is what the corruption bases itself off on. Unachievable happiness, the happiness you can't regain from the past... That's what Shattered feeds on. And Epic lost Cross to that.

Also validating Epic's anger. Anger is valid. Anger during the grieving period is valid. Grudges, and bits and pieces of resentment are valid. So long as you don't drag others into it... which is hard. So, during the bad days Epic stays away from Faith and Nightmare and just... takes a stroll through the multiverse. Stays away. Faith doesn't deserve having something ugly like Epic's grudges marring his childhood memories.

During the first two months of Epic's stay, Nightmare makes sure not to show himself in front of Epic.

Epic feels grateful, as much as he feels bitter at that. He doesn't think he can handle seeing Nightmare.

Nightmare also doesn't want to interrupt Epic's grieving with misled anger. He's the guardian of negativity still after all.

At some point, after a year or so, the Crew suggest Epic takes a break in an another AU with Nightmare while they take care of Faith. Two weeks of vacation for them to talk it out in another AU without fearing hurting Faith.

Killer: Hey, as much as I agree that the kid should have his mama and Uncle getting along at least, he's not gonna like it when he figures out its fake. That might even be worse. So... just talk it out face to face. Hell, maybe duke it out even. The kid will be fine with us~

Epic: But-

Faith: *giggles latching onto Horror's finger*

Epic: *undecided noise*

Nightmare: Hey, you get to freely beat me up.

Epic: ..................

Epic: *sighs* Fine then... when are we going?

Nightmare: Error already provided the place so *opens portal*

Epic: .....This planning ahead stuff you do is kind of creepy.

\-----------------------

Faith, five years old:

Hey mama?

Epic, looking up from the spellbook he borrowed from Chronicle: Hm?

Faith: Why don't you and Uncle Mare get along?

Epic: ...Sometimes people just don't click together Faith... and sometimes it's better not to force a bond to happen. I do trust him. Just.. I don't have to necessarily be friends with him.

Faith: Oh...

Epic: Just because we don't get along with each other doesn't mean you can't get along with him.

Faith: ...Mind reader...

Epic: *suddenly grabs Faith into a hug* Awww were you worried?~

Faith: *surprised fit of giggles* Mama noooo~~

\-----------------------

Epic is an extremely stressed and overworking Mama.

Epic: I thought I was the chill and irresponsible one when did this happen?!

Faith's an energetic toddler that likes to get into the most dangerous places of the castle.

On top of that, Epic helps out with the order of the multiverse, sometimes inventing new spells that will help along.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

Night and Epic come back to the castle covered in bruises and scratches and slashes galore. Faith accidentally sees them while hiding from Dust and immediately fret and flutter around them both, screaming for any of the Crew to "COME HELP! MAMA AND UNCLE HAVE OUCHIES!" and wailing while Night and Epic struggle through the pain of their wounds to calm down the worried baby bones.

\----

Faith asks Nightmare the same question, with Nightmare going quiet and softly saying "Sometimes you have to stay away from the people you dont want to hurt, sweetling," before kissing the top of their skull and shooing them off to the Crew bc he had 'boring adult work' to do. when Faith goes downstairs Night brings out a picture of a smiling Dream hugging a pregnant Cross from behind, the picture having "@ 2 months <3" in Dream's elegant script, whispering out a shaky "I miss you, brother" before shaking off his melancholy for another time and starting his work.

\----

Epic hangs out with Ink when he has to work on magicking certain spells since Ink has a way of seeing things from unexpected perspectives that help him in determining what parameters he should set up for the batch he needs. Ink also has the key to Chronicle's Library, so he can ask Chron for advice on the more complex ones and get a helping hand in the process. Chron was surprisingly easy to get along with, he finds. He had some good tidbits about taking care of baby bones too, somehow. Epic doesnt question it. Easier that way.

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

PJ, 14 year old: Hey Faith.

Faith, 12 year old: ???

PJ: I can... make your mom and Uncle get along.

Faith: What are you planning...

PJ: Just watch ok?

Epic and Nightmare get trapped in a room, where they have to say at least 10 genuinely good points about each other.

Faith fully expects this to not work.

\--------------

Compliment Epic on his work and he will blush so damn hard. Like. That's the best way to get at him and to get him flustered.

PJ and Faith end up spending a lot of time due to this. Sometimes Epic brings Faith along to Chron's Library, and Chronicle babysits them for a while. Epic gets really focused when at work, and shows serious sides to himself that Faith normally doesn't see.

Epic tries not to get Faith too involved with work regardless... and secretly he's hoping Faith's friendship with PJ will ensure Ink at least keeps Faith out of whatever events that get planned by the Creators.

He can hope.

The biggest achievement Epic had made was when he decided to challenge Reaper's death touch, and managed to make an item after spending a week of hunching over a desk.

"I don't sleep anyway so" *shrugs*

Basically Epic just slams the door to the council room, holding a bracelet in one hand, and a potted vibrant plant in the other, marches over to Reaper with determined steps and goes "Hey help me test something. Wear this."

Reaper, confused, wears it.

"Now touch the flower."

And Reaper sighs. "This isn't going to work." and touches the flower without looking.

there is shocked silence.

Reaper peeks, and discovers that the flower is still somehow alive.

Reaper then proceeds to hug the shit out of Epic, and then the others. Epic is in Reaper's friend list after that.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

PJ does not plan ahead for Night and Epic's porting abilities.

Faith just shrugs and goes "see? told you" when they both appear out of the room mere minutes after being locked in it.

PJ takes this as a challenge.

\---------------

i love the image of the ones in the meeting seeing Epic kicking open the door with a flower pot with no explanation other than making Reaper wear a bracelet.

and flipping their shits when Reaper, GOD OF DEATH, doesnt cause the plant to die. or Epic. or everybody else he hugged. Epic immediately receives more work projects and proposals after that.

and then Reaper, in his excitement drags Epic into a portal in the Save Screen where he excitedly shows a confused Geno the bracelet and Geno disbelievingly looks to Epic and the flower pot still in his hands, looks to Reaper, to Epic, and then Reaper grinning and hugging Epic and _Epic not dusting holy SHIT-_

Epic makes friends in high places.

i wanna see Ink eventually taking him to meet Sci. and the both of them scanning each other up and down, and immediately bonding over their ideas and theories and the disturbing lack of sleep they both get.

(Epic takes care of Sci when he crashes into a mini coma for two or three days bc as much as Sci wishes otherwise, he still needs some hours of sleep.)

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

Watch as PJ makes elaborate, even trickier to get out mazes.

At this point Epic and Nightmare are messing with him by making it a point to not even look at each other when getting out. Like a silent mutual agreement to annoy the kid of Existence and Destruction as much as possible by not giving him what he wants.

Technically that is giving him what he wants of course but shh dont tell them that.

\------------

Sci, sleepily and tiredly: Ya'know... i feel guilty leaving you alone all awake....

Epic: That's just my condition bud. Nothing to do about it.

Sci: hm.....*falls asleep*

Watch as Epic and Sci nerd it out. Watch as Sans, Red, many Gasters, many Alphyses and Swapdyne get dragged into this full on nerd out, as well as Stretch. Watch as Error has to do damage control and Ink gleefully watches the chaos of inventions ensue, he and Top watching Zephyr have fun nerding out as well.

Life gets to give Reaper all the flowers she has ever wanted to give him. Reaper gets to keep PETS now!

Epic after that works on a lot of commissions of his own.

Also,

Epic has moments where he just goes through a sharp focus of a concept that is being made more real with equations and theories in his head. He's scarier then Fresh in these moments.

Epic can scare Fresh sometimes when he's on an inventive Streak.

Faith has seen it happen so many times he's desentesized to it and just goes "Hey mom."

\------------

Abyss Gaster asks at some point. "Why don't you make an item to help youself?"

"...No matter what I do... what I make... whenever I close eyes I keep getting dragged back to that dimension...... It's probably hopeless at this point. But meh, I've come up with an item that makes sure my brain doesn't die out from not sleeping."

\------------

The first time ever Epic sleeps is with Faith in his lap, emitting extreme amounts of happy aura that keeps Nightmare away.

\------------

Red is grateful that Epic lightens the workload on Sci.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

the Multiverse undergoes a spike in the rate of AU travels and its bc the Major Nerds are geeking it out with each other. its a multiverse-wide convention now. Error gives up trying to prevent it. Ink is still grinning as more and more chaos piles up.

\----

Fresh's glasses reading OH NO when Faith reaches out to tap Epic's shoulder, fully expecting Epic to do that creepily empty deranged look he gave Fresh.

but when Epic only answers Faith's call with a tilt of the head, he relaxes and poofs out of Epic's workspace. he did not want to go through another explosion thanks. the resulting gas made the parasite shudder in remembrance. nasty stuff.

\----

all the scientist in the vicinity whip their heads towards him, voices overlapping each other with inquiries of "How??"'-"Can you teach me??"-"I WANT ONE!"

Epic ports the heck outta there

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

Faith: You're kind of like a celebrity now huh....

Epic: haha don't I know it at this point... it's a pain.

\----------

this is all elborate scheme in order to ensure that the amount of people who owe him will protect Faith in anyway they can if a dire time comes. Social Networking basically.

Sometimes some people mistake Nightmare and Epic for a couple. Does it have to be an actual ship? Nah. But honestly it would be funny as hell.

\----------

Faith has the ability of making Epic take breaks.

\----------

Epic has been noticing cracks that are appearing on Shattered!Dream's statue, and has placed items on it that will prevent the statue from leaking further of the corruption out.

Faith doesn't know about his dad. And while he is curious about him, can sense that he's an even sourer subject than his mother somehow. All he knows is that he was 'Dream', and that statue in the backyard is a representation of his downfall or something. He doesn't know that the statue is the result of a sealing. Nor does he know that whenever he visits the garden, Cross's soul gets to watch over him.

(night~)

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

Epic gets flooded by the various nerds he escaped for months afterward. Faith and Ink keep laughing at him when his phone vibrates nonstop for weeks.

\-----

_...crackship..._

\-----

Only Faith does. Nightmare maybe, if he influenced Epic with his magic, but nah. Night wants to avoid unneeded arguments.

\------

oh no oh shit Dream gets shattered twice over lmao

when Faith visits the garden statue, they can feel a sort of....soft, warm feeling that makes their soul feel light somehow...Uncle Nightmare's been explaining and teaching them about their aura and their abilities as an offspring of a positivity spirit, but they still dont fully understand it.

Faith decides to shelf their questions for later.

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

_Crackship indeed_

————————

Faith, 14: ....Um. Mr. Error?

Error: Yes?

Faith: I....want to know more about my father.

Error:....*sighs*

Faith: I know nobody seems to like talking about him but I want to understand-

Error: *drops an album into Faith’s hands*

Faith: H-huh?

Error: After the whole event...Epic tried to burn that in his hysteria. He doesn’t know that I managed to save that book. Don’t show it to him no matter what you do.

Faith: O-okay...thank you.

Error: Don’t thank me when you might not like what you find out.

Faith doesn’t know how to feel about seeing a goopmare. He doesn’t know how to feel about seeing his mom and dad together, and he certainly doesn’t understand how or why things ended up the way they did if everyone was so happy.

Then he learns how corruption takes place. How it has to be done willingly.

And suddenly Faith’s understands why mom wanted to burn the Album, and why dad doesn’t get talked about much.

———————

Faith starts to get weird dreams. Dreams of being stuck somewhere in the dark. Dreams of phalanges brushing against his face and a croon, and whispered promises of ‘a whole family’, ‘anything you want’...

And a smaller, softer voice calling out.

_Don’t._

His hend being held and even as a screeching echoes through the dream he’s pulled into a monochrome landscape.

Everytime, he doesn’t get the chance to see who his savior is, and he wakes up.

The first time he mentioned this dream everyone had looked troubled.

Epic had his eyelights snuffed out as he stared at Faith, gripping the sheets of paper in his hands.

“...Tell me if anything changes about those Dreams, ok honey?”

—————————

Because he’s had to work with corruption in order to strengthen the seals, Epic starts to notice that he’s getting symptoms of Dream’s form of corruption.

Hallucinations of the past overlapping with today, his memory sometimes fluctuating...

He realizes its gotten worse when he momentarily sees Cross instead of Faith where his kid is.

He informs Nightmare of the problem and starts to isolate himself while working.

—————————

Right before Shattered!Dream starts to break out, Cross reveals himself to Faith and gives him a location and a place.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

awwwwiiieeee poor Faith doesnt know what to do with the new information crammed into his skull...he asked for it, but he definitely doesnt know what to do now that hes gotten it.

\------

Nightmare starts putting up mental barriers in Faith's dreamscape, in hopes of hindering what seemed to be his brother's corrupted spirit communicating with Faith. hes really glad for the intervention happening in the dreams, and if his suspicions were right, they had to either strengthen the seal, which would need a fuckton of magic they didnt have, or neutralize the corruption, which they werent really sure how to do.

\------

Epic definitely has Sci as back up in observing and experimenting on the samples of the corruption he collected from himself, although he makes sure to keep the other in a separate room and decked in protective gear when they do. who knew if it somehow mutated while in contact with Epic and his....unique disposition....they didnt know anything concrete about corruption, except for it living up to its name and essentially turning the affected person into someone they werent.

Epic doesnt come back home for days, sometimes weeks at a time, and while Faith is extremely worried, he also knows why he cant go and pop in for a visit without possible repercussions.

\------

it happens in a dream. Faith in the garden, the statue in front of him, the garden lush and beautiful around them. He sees a silhouette beside the statue, with a familiar gold scheme he saw in the album, extending their arms to him. and before he knows it, hes taking a step, and another, and another, until hes running to that figure that feels like a lost piece of his soul. the figure is caging him in, and hes clinging to them in return, but a thought scratches the back of his mind. something was eerily wrong, in the sense that something was slightly out of place but he didnt know enough to understand what it was. but then the warmth of the garden disappears. colors fade, and he feels something similar to cold slime in his hands. he tries pulling away to see what was wrong, but he cant. the figure, now taller and leaner than he thought theyd be, holds him still while he struggles. he hears the same whispy voice that promises everything he craves, everything he wished for in his darkest moments, everything that could possibly give him happiness. Faith struggles even more, but the arms around him felt too real, too solid to break away from. the cold slimy feeling crawls around him and he shivers.

and then a cold wind blows behind him. the figure tenses and hisses something he cant quite hear, but catches the tone of. annoyance and exasperation mainly, but also a deeply rooted fondness? and something else just out of his perception. he doesnt get to look into it as hes yanked back, away from the dark figure of what looked to be goop, by a monochrome skeleton with a glowing blue staff/spear thing. the dead garden and the goopy figure waving to him fades away as the dreamscape shifts into a different location. Faith swiftly unlodges from the hold on the back of their collar and turns to see if their current and possibly long time protector would finally let him see who they were, though he already had his suspicions.

Faith doesnt get the tearful, reunion moment he lowkey hopes for, as Cross looks deeply troubled when he turns, but he does get to see a watery, tender smile on him as he does. before he can say anything though, Cross breathes out an awed "Youve grown so much" and Faith chokes on the rising emotional cocktail he feels from himself, from Cross, and from a distant third party. Cross hugs him close, and whispers a message to Epic, along with coordinates to somewhere he doesnt get to finish describing the use for before the dreamscape starts trembling and breaking apart around them.

Cross looks into his child's eyes, mouths a "We love you" as Faith feels something pull at him and making his soul prickle, pushes Faith straight into a crack in the ground, and he falls.

he wakes and immediately starts bawling, as Nightmare crashes into his room to see what the sudden negativity was about, blubbering out a butchered "i saw them!" and a few other phrases Nightmare doesnt understand before another different phrase makes him straighten so quick it was almost painful.

a cup of tea and five chapters read to him afterward, Faith was back in a dreamless nap, breath hitching occasionally. Nightmare makes a call to Epic, and relays the information he got out from the splintered explanation Faith gave him. they had to contact Ink for this, the coordinates lead to somewhere between the worlds, between the voids, somewhere Nightmare couldnt quite open a portal to.

if something was there, they had to see what it was and why Cross deemed it important.

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

AAAAAAA HOLY SHIT

THAT HIT ME RIGHT IN THE KOKORO

That "We Love You" is just so ladjknsbonwrlk

\--------------------

Epic has a mark that travels up across his arm as proof of corruption, ever growing. Epic makes sure that before the Corruption can take his mind over, to send all that he has figured out about it to Sci's computer.

Epic's the first in line to confront Shattered when he breaks out, putting up impressive amounts of shield.

And, of course, he loses.

Because Shattered takes advantage of how Epic longs for the days that Cross was alive and physically with him, when he could reach out to Epic when he needed help.

Epic gets corrupted and his one eyelight gets turned into a shimmering gold.

\------------------

About how those who are corrupted look and would function;

-Goop splattered here and there, sometimes leaking out of their eyes like tear tracks, or eye sockets.

-Golden hued.

-They don't entirely recognize what's going on in the present, and will mutter inconsistent jumple. For Epic, it would be "...Cross...Please....."

-They're forever stuck in never ending loops of their desperate moments, where they had hopes to stop something good from disappearing forever.

-Accepting and holding onto what they have in the present is the one way to get out of that corruption.

Epic holds out the longest despite the exposure. Because he holds onto all the memories of Faith he has. Because Faith has his loyalty almost just as much as Cross had. Isolating himself did not help matters, thus causing him to lose against Shattered almost easily.

\------------------

Faith has no idea what happened, but they're quickly transported to Chronicle's Library alongside with PJ for safety measures. They're confused, scared, and before Nightmare disappears back into his realm, and Chronicle puts the Library in an emergency lockdown as a counter measure to corruption, he tries to ask.

"Wait! Uncle Mare! Where is mom?!"

And Nightmare's face twists into something Faith doesn't quite recognize, but it can't mean anything good.

Nightmare leaves Faith there with a purple hued glowing blue pendant placed around their neck.

((Cross's will was strong enough that it could momentarily reach out to Nightmare right before Shattered broke out. Now mama gets to sort of accompany his child.))

All of this happens before they get a chance to go to that place Cross had given coordinates to.

PJ declares he can try.

\------------------

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

Chronicle shuts them down before they can even think of asking. "You cant get out right now," he says, "not with Shattered out there."

Chron makes sure they stay in the library and cant access the usual exits, but the kids are determined.

they just have to find a way to break out of the library first. and find their way to the coordinates Cross gave. and find a way to keep themselves safe from the corruption. all while avoiding their family members, who were going to be on high alert.

_fun_

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

it's a feeling Faith gets.

Just a feeling.

But they get the feeling they are the one that's supposed to go there.

At some point the Library itself secretly helps them along.

The Library and Chronicle share a symbiotic relationship. By no means does this mean the Library is under Chronicle's control. Chronicle knows this.

The Library will choose what is best for the multiverses continued existence.

\------------

Meanwhile, corruption of the multiverse is hitting hard for Ink. He's not getting corrupted himself per say, but the Corruption is like cancer. Instead of possessing him it may very well kill him.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

Chronicle is alerted to their disappearance when the Library shifts and blocks him from reaching the kids, and then he hears the sound of a portal opening and closing. He sighs. _Goodluck_

PJ opens a portal to the Doodlesphere, seeing as they could pinpoint the locations if they had them spread out in categories. but then Faith drifts away from the tied-up papers while PJ is distractedly looking for where to start. he feels a tugging on his soul the closer he gets to a darker part of the Doodlesphere hes never been in before.

there are islands everywhere, doors carved with the name of the AU on them. its beautiful, but not where hes being called to. he jumps from island to island, the clusters thinning out the farther he goes. he passes a gray door, a tree stump on its island, and the tugging stops. he looks around. there were other gray doors, but most of them were nowhere near him and looked to be a breath away from crumbling into nothing. he looks forward, seeing faint shapes and a white something in the far distance. he looks back to the gray door, and steps onto the island, clearing away the dust and greenery clinging to the surface and blocking the title.

_Dreamtale_

his soul stutters in shock but he hardens his resolves as one hand unconsciously darts up to hold the glowing center of the necklace Nightmare left him.

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

_The place where everything first started_

_The place of origins_

_The very first stage of twins_

_Oh how faith brings things together_

_Don't you agree, little Faith?_

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

((SHIT KSJSKDJSKDJKSJDKS THATS SO GOOD FUCK))

the guardians are currently scanning and combing through the multiverse looking for Shattered whil a Corrupt!Epic battles them in his place.

Shattered is in Dreamtale, standing over the remnants of their tree, arms loosely crossed, when he turns to pin Faith in place with his eye light while his smirk widens, catching sight of the clutched purple pendant.

_"Hello dears. So good to finally see you."_

(((ALSO HHHHH WHY DID I ONLY NOW SEE THAT TIDBIT ABT THE CORRUPTION BEING A CANCER LIKE DISEASE FOR INK WHAT DO I DO WITH THAT WRITES I GOT TOO MANY IDEAS THAT ARENT CONCRETE ENOUGH KSJDKKKJKSHSJSBCBCNDBCH)))

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

(((FALL DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE WITH ME CAFFEINE THATS WHAT)))

Faith gulps clutching the pendant tighter. “...I can’t really say the same.”

He takes a step back, around the tree trunk, keeping an eye on Shattered’s form. “So... visiting old memories?” He talks casually, a coping mechanism he adapted from Epic.

Cross feels fondness at that all the while building up his power within the pendant.

“Not sure what you can get from an abandoned place like this... pretty sure it was a stage abandoned by the Creators.”

“Unless you wanted to tell me something. While showing me here.”

—————————

Ink coughes up ink thats tinted with the golden hue. He can feel how much pain he is in.

Error meanwhile is doing his best to lessen Ink’s workload.

Memory has gathered all the uncorrupted memories and stashed them somewhere safe. Sci’s in the part of the Doodlesphere where the rest of the guardians are and is trying to do his best to come up with something that will counter corruption. Something that even Epic couldn’t seem to pin point out....

Or had but ended up having to be elaborate, subtle in explaining while the corruption was eating at his mind.

Memory crystals are going to come in handy soon.

—————————-

Faith has a key part in actually being able to use whatever Sci can come up with though.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

(((IM P SURE IM ALREADY IN THE DAMNED RABBIT HOLE JDCKHSDBHCKSBCK)))

Shattered laughs when Faith fixes him with a raised bone brow. "You take after your mother so much, did you know that?" and when Faith freezes, Shattered traps them both in a past memory.

it shows them Cross from before Dream's corruption, a serene smile on his face as he loops his arm around a laughing Dream to keep them upright.

Faith looks on, enraptured by the amount of happiness he sees yet wondering distantly how bad things had to be if they were this happy and Dream decided to go corrupt anyway.

Shattered says to him, almost wistful, "We were so very happy together," with Faith cutting him off with a question thats long been itching to be said for an answer.

"What happened?" Faith finally looks to Shattered, who gives them a sad, almost sincere smile. "You did, dear."

unbeknownst to them, Cross was also watching from the pendant, making it unconsciously glow and pulse with streaks of red as he grows ever more determined to break Dream out of his corruption.

\------

Sci locks onto a few, out of place key phrases in Epic's transcripts. Which was weird, bc Epic was immaculate in his notes...and then he remembers the scribbled note Epic left on his table.

_keep an eye out for anomalies_

he thought it was only a reminder, what with their jobs and all. seems there was something to be looked into. Epic always did leave him good puzzles.

\------

Ink's doing his part to fight the corruption by isolating the infected universes in a separate cluster from the rest, but its taking a lot of his energy, and his magic cant fight the corruption and keep the cluster stable at the same time, so he calls for Error's help. they needed a pocket dimension for the affected ones, to make sure they could still save and slow the spread of the corruption in the Multiverse.

thing is, making a pocket dimension needs both Ink's magic essence and Error's coding to act as pillars, to keep itself from fading into the void, since it wasnt a dimension anchored in the multiverse. and with Ink getting more corrupted alongside the Multiverse, it was risky and delicate work. they would need to collect from the original paints that first found the artist, the ones that gave Ink his first emotions, to make sure the pocket dimension wouldnt corrupt itself along with Ink.

[Inky's losing a lot of magic there~] "Shut up." [So rude!] "Leave me alone!" [Hmhm~? Did you not want our help in destroying the corruption Error~?] "......" [If youre sur-] "...please..." [Teehee~! Thats what we thought Destroyer~]

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

(((WELL WE'RE DIGGING FURTHER INTO THE NETHERWORLD ASKBVJABLABK)))

"...Did I make it bad then?"

"What do you mean?"

"...You had something good. And as far as I've heard so far, you threw it away."

And Faith feels just a bit resentful, the memory wavering slightly.

"Was it because of me then?"

If so, that would be rather unfair to say. Faith didn't exactly choose to get born did he?

\----------------

"Spite?" Sci questions to himself, the papers strewn across in front of him. "...Perhaps an alternative method to 'present awareness'?"

\----------------

(Oh my god the creators are so mean-)

PJ is running in the general direction he thinks he saw Faith go to, running through all the memories he has of when mom talked about the AUs, trying to pinpoint where Faith would have gone to.

_Please let my parents have mercy on me._

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

(((KSDJKSJFDHFJHVFBK WOULD YOU BELIEVE ME IF I SAID IM PULLING ALL OF THE BITS I ADD OUT OF MY ASS? BC I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THIS IS GOING OR HOW IT ENDS JDNKHBFHVBH)))

Shattered has the gall to look offended before his expression smooths out into a thoughtful one. "Thats an interesting take on it," he says and pops into existence right in front of Faith, who stumbles back a step and drops his hold on the pendant. "Tell me, Faith," Shattered leans forward, "Wouldnt you do anything to make the people you love happy?"

"Of course I would." Faith finds their balance quickly and stares Shattered down. "But that didnt answer my question," he adds, making Shattered raise a brow. "And how would knowing the answer make a difference?"

"Because id finally know if im doing the right thing." he wilts. Shattered smirks, laughing mockingly.

"Wrong or right doesnt matter when you have to meet a goal dear. People are still selfish in the end after al-"

"is that what you think?"

Shattered stares at him, smirk gone and looking solemn and tired. "Its what i know, dear," he whispers as the forgotten memory around them shifts before them.

A slideshow of Dream's lowest moments, followed by a reminder of his never-ending responsibilities, holding a weight that almost physically squeezed him.

_Its suffocating._

Shattered looks over his hunched form, still standing against the vice-like feeling entrapping them in the memories, before smiling at him. "It never ends you know," he says, tone conversational, "only easier to ignore."

\-------

Error has multiple windows open while Sci scans the physical papers, in charge of reading through the unfinished encrypted ones Epic made during the corruption experiments. he's nearly finished all of them when he notices an out of place folder titled 'Pending: Cor!Anomaly'

[Worth a try]///[See what it is!]///[Oh whats that?]

"Fine."

the window zips over to where Sci was compiling the clues Epic left. a big part of it was missing, but he got a general idea already. he only needs--

...

huh. convenient. the content in the opened folder matched up with a lot of the notes, and had the base of Epic's theorized neutralizing agent.

now they only needed to get to the lab to test it.

\------

PJ runs into Ink while running in the Doodlesphere, who immediately panics when he sees PJ's colors blur past him, heading in the direction of the dead and dying universes. He tugs on a string Error left him in the pattern they set up for PJ, and hopes Error catches up to their skelinkton before he gets lost in the depths of the Doodlesphere. Dammit he knew he shouldve put a lock on this place!

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

(((HECKING SAME HEIDBSJDHSJDHSJDHDJSJEJSJDHDJDHSJSBDHKSJDBJBDJHEHSBUDHUSBEOAJWHSBUBEHDIYXUEJEJXISJSBD)))

There were a number of things Faith things he can say to that. Many number of things. He’s not sure if any of them would make the situation better or worse.

Cross wpukd have growled if he had the ability to do so. He settles on glowing brighter in warning.

If nothing else he won’t have Faith be a part of this.

—————————-

Epic pulling a fullmetal alchemist in hiding his notes sksksksksk

The memory crystals are part of the project.

Meanwhile, Core Frisk is just vibin’... while getting survivors into the Omega Timeline.

————————-

Paperjam sees the door leading towards Dreamtale.

Its a cheap shot.

But worth a try.

Creators liked symbolisms.

Faith getting in there wouldn’t be far fetched.

—————————

_Cross.... Cross...... Where are you Cross....? Are you happy Cross?... I want you to be happy..... I want you to be alive.... please don’t do it Cross please...._

Epic wobbles on his feet, voice rasping as even more tentacles swarm through his magic eye.

“Cross...”

(Gnight>

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

(((FUCKFUCKFUCK ITS THE CLIMAX ISNT IT GODDAMNIT FUCKING FUCK HOW DO I HOW DO I AHAHHAHAHAHAHHA)))

Shattered's attention is pulled to the brightening strips of red and purple in the amulet. Faith sees the other's eye widen in shock and follows their gaze down to the glow of the necklace.

He breathes out a quiet "Cross?" and for a moment Faith can sense a hopeful echo to it before its forcibly snuffed out and covered up, Shattered's expression twisting into a pained snarl as the glow brightens even further. A brush of warmth passes him by and Faith can sense the familiarity in its intent to protect, a cloudy white mist swirling from the necklace and settling on both him and Shattered.

"It really is you," its an awed whisper coming from him, and Faith immediately shuts their gaping mouth. He can feel a flicker of amusement from another presence just out of his perception.

So could Shattered, if the minute flinch away from the white mist was any hint.

\---------

Core just pulling waves of monsters into a portal while the world glitches with the corruption with no explanation other than "You'll be safe here".

Sci finding a hidden drawer in their testing room and finding a handful of the crystals, and a procedure scribbled messily on a piece of paper, and a couple vials of the goop samples they managed to collect from Nightmare post corruption and Epic's more recent one.

if this worked, if it actually honest to Creators worked, he had to neutralize Epic first. Take out the nearest big threat before going after Shattered.

\---------

PJ appearing in the desolate fields of Dreamtale, seeing nothing but the tree stump and the remains of a village in the distance, Shattered's influence strong enough to mislead him into the forest to 'search' for Faith.

Error in the Doodlesphere appearing right as the door to Dreamtale closes and he spies Shattered blanketing PJ in a shimmering gold cloud and PJ wandering away. he tries opening the door himself but is stopped when a bad glitch out stuns him.

[You are not the character we need right now Destroyer~] "LET ME IN!" [Dont get fussy Error~ youre embarrassing yourself~] "Bullshit!"

and before he can fight it, he's dropped beside a startled Ink as soon as he takes a step closer to Dreamtale's door. He screams in rage, his fear and worry worming through his soul.

Ink catches his eye, and the artist looks slightly terrified to see him without PJ after being dropped by what was obviously a portal by the Creators. Error shakes his head and Ink droops, the corruption sapping at his meager energy and the panic he could feel from Error not helping his case at all.

(niightt~)

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

There is no answer, Faith can see how from the mist what looks like hands reach out, and Shattered flinches further, actually taking several steps back.

_Dream..._

A voice calls out.

***But Shattered Does Not Hear You**

_....Faith, please back away._

Faith breathes at the warm voice he hears, the sadness but determination in it, the love in it seemingly curling around his being and a few tears slip out as he continues staring at the mist, the memory faded now to simply show the waste that is Dreamtale.

Faith starts to back away, still watching with widened eye sockets how Shattered speaks towards the mist.

“You were gone, last I heard. I knew not completely. But you had died. Haven’t you?” Shattered takes another step back despite his silky voice and confident looking posture. “You were... you were with me there... why did you have to go and die? We had something good...”

_Dream... he’s lost himself to insanity..._

And the mist, _Cross_ sounds so miserable to Faith... and he knew he is the only one that can hear that.

“Was I hurting you that much...?”

Meanwhile, PJ takes a moment to look back, and notices that... somethings not right. The more he squints he suddenly comes to a realization.

Then he immediately runs right towards where he can now see Faith and Shattered are...

Shattered’s eyelights suddenly narrow, and he immediately sends his tentacle towards where he senses PJ was coming from... only to suddenly have violet, blue shimmering bone attacks snap out of the ground and prevent him from doing so.

_PJ? He’s grown..._

“Huh?” Was the only articulate thing Faith could come up with as PJ grabs him and makes a run towards Dreamtales exit.

————————————

Sci can see other, hastily scribbled notes... and something was ripped.

He narrows his eyes, and starts searching the area again. Everything looks like the desperate scramble of someone trying their best to keep their memories intact as much as possible. It was suffocating. It felt like desperation heavily took place here. It was a part of Epic Sci hadn’t seen...

He spots a pieces of ripped paper on the ground.

He stops himself for a second, thinking that these piece of paper was destroyed for a reason...

But then he knows that Epic would have been much more thorough than this if he wanted it not to be bought to daylight.

The Mage was good with his blasters, just as most Sans tended to be.

*dramatic music*

He picks up the pieces and starts doing a quick work of bringing them together. Much faster than he does going through entire pages of documents.

.... he sighs.

_Well that explains why he wanted to rip it apart._

On the paper....

**_No matter how hard I try the results are the same._ **

**_Only Faith can use this weapon._ **

**_No, there has to be another way. There has to be._ **

**_I can’t get them involved._ **

Sci takes a moment to pray for himself.

Then he begins his work on making the weapon.

_Please don’t kill me for this Epic._

_Who am I kidding you will make it as painful as possible._

————————————

Epic still stalked the corridors of what was once Nightmare's castle... haunting whispers echoing wherever he walked..and dripping goop that vanishes..

There were purple bone attacks protruding from the grounds, and even the ceilings, laced and dripping with that golden hued material...

Killer himself hid behind a pillar, eye sockets half lidded as he leaned his head back. He and Dust decided to stay behind with Nightmare to keep Epic contained as much as they possibly could.

A part of Killer pitied Epic, even more so when his hearing canals caught some of the words in those whisper.

But more than that he felt like all of this was absolutely stupid. He felt angry that this was happening to Epic of all people-

That Epic was so easily being Shattered's bitch basically.

He holds back a hiss upon having the crack across his clavicle and arm act up again. The other sure did a number on him. Been a while since he had to seriously run for his life.

Epic was normally no joke, and held a lot of power, had the mind to pull many tactics.... in that sense, the corruption made it somewhat easier to manage Epic. While he notices and goes for weaknesses, he can't come up with a perfect tactic.

_Got some more shot in this... Life and Reaper should be arriving as backup soon..._

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

Faith sees Shattered's eye light widen in shock when PJ deflects the attack and is too stunned by PJ being present to do more than reflexively jerk back for a second when the skelinkton drags him away from the corrupted guardian. In that second, Faith looks up to meet Shattered's gaze and is even more confused by the flash of a pained expression on his face and the way the white mist seemed to swirl tighter around him before dissipating and trailing after the amulet.

Before Faith can process it he's lost sight of the desolate meadow and was now surrounded by gray, withered remains of trees. He stumbles after a cursing PJ, blindly following the other as the foliage thickens until Faith has fully lost all sense of direction. So has PJ by the looks of it, who was leaning against a sturdy tree trunk and heaving for air they technically didnt need. Faith rips his arm out of the other's grip and stumbles down to collapse on the dry grass. Pj locks panicked sockets with his own.

"I cant," PJ gasps, "I cant portal."

"No....no, that cant- we have-" Faith grips a handful of the dirt and grass under him. "We're stuck here?" he questions numbly, spine prickling with dread and anxiety as the weight of the admission settled.

"What do we do?" PJ whispers, as if Shattered could appear the moment he started talking. He kinda wasnt wrong. It was a terrifying thought. Faith rises and sets a determined look on the other.

"We keep running."

\-----------------

Error checks back in on the lab where he dropped Sci at, the hourly alarm they set having gone off thrice with no sign of the scientist having returned in the Doodlesphere. The glitch finds him scrabbling for tools and fiddling with machinery in the only lit up room in the facility. Sci looked crazed, the way he looked when he had an ungodly amount of caffeine and was on a streak and just _had_ to finish it. Oddly though, there were no telltale mugs littering the cluttered desk Sci was hunched over.

Error would violently deny he jumped when Sci spoke up, his voice croaky and hoarse. "Its done." The scientist looks over his shoulder, catching his sharp look and moving over to reveal the contraption he'd been slaving over. "Done what?" Error inches closer, too curious to stay back but also having dealt with enough science in his existence to not be wary. Sci takes a scrap of paper from the pocket of his lab coat and hands it over to the Destroyer, tone wry and somewhat resigned as he resolutely ignores the incredulous sound Error will swear up and down he never made.

"Epic's theorized neutralizer."

\-----------------

Nightmare gracefully dodges a swipe of Killer's knife as an arm winds around his lackey's spinal cord. Killer hisses out something that distinctly sounded like curses and a mention or two of "creepy bosses with no regards to personal safety" which he graciously forgets he hears--if only so he wouldnt be distracted by thoughts of punishing Killer for running his mouth. He drags them both into the shadows just as Epic's corrupted form stumbles around the corner Killer was previously hiding behind. "Stop your infernal squirming!" Nightmare snarls, fangs showing for a split second before he drops Killer on his coccyx, once again ignoring the whine Killer lets slip. "Error's called. Says Sci has something for the corruption." Nightmare looks solemn.

"We have to lead Epic to them."

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

(((Red, in the omega timeline: I get the feeling my boyfriend is caffeine overdosing again.)))

_I can use some of the charms to effectively use this... no, for now, Nightmare will have to do as temporary substitute to Faith._

"Lead him to the part of the castle that's filled with the most uncorrupted negativity. The neutralizer... the neutralizer can only be effectively used by you."

_"...There is something you're not telling me but we don't have the time. So long as I can use it..."_

"Right."

\---------------

"Epic."

That voice.

_**"Night..mare..."** _

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

Epic had no idea where Nightmare's voice came from, in this blur of hazy impressions he was in. All that was there was thick fog as far as he could see. Something scratches at his thoughts. He was thinking of something wasnt he? No that didnt feel right...maybe of someone? The last thought he had was of...who? Someone he knew, but couldnt recall.

Someone dear to him, somehow reminding him of old libraries and dark coffee.

A shift in his vision makes him squint. Who...?

A monochrome figure appears in front of him, laughing and calling for him to follow. Cross? But...wasnt he-?

The figure becomes clearer, and this time he's absolutely certain that it is Cross. _"Epic! Epic come on!"_

Epic follows the image through the fog, feeling heavy and oddly cold all over. Why was it so hard to move? Cross looks closer now, and Epic reaches out a hand to him. _"Epic! Where are you?"_

What? He was right here! Could Cross not see him? He could see Cross just fine! If a little blurry around some parts, around his face mostly, but he could hear the smile in his voice. _**"Cross?"**_ The figure was starting to walk away, even as he tried calling for him to look back, that he was right here! Where was Cross going? Dont leave him behind! _**"Cross.....dont...."**_

\--------

Nightmare couldnt thank his want for dramatics enough. He knew the furry rug would be better than simple smooth tiles. It made running much, much easier. Killer was beside him, dodging Epic's wayward attacks and defending his back at the same time. They had to get to the garden, had to lead Epic to Sci and Error, for whatever they had planned. Nightmare didnt get much of it--seeing as they cut the call before he could ask--only that he was supposed to be there when they got Epic in the garden and that Sci had something he had to use on Epic?

Hope you bastards got a plan, he thinks, as he sees the distinct arch that lead to the garden, the vibrant green standing out from the color scheme of his abode.

Nightmare sees Sci's labcoat and hears Error's glitched static as both he and Killer are yanked back by blue strings as they turn the corner, Epic a few paces behind them.

Sci hands him something that looked straight out of a futuristic sci-fi movie, which would be cool to experiment with if he only knew how to use it. Sci looks dead in his sockets and tells him to "Aim for the soul" which alarms him before he steels himself. It wouldnt be lethal against Epic, only the corruption.

He had to believe it, else he'd never do what was needed and damn them all.

He couldnt have that.

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

_**"Cross..."** _

"It's time you wake up, Epic."

The form in front of him tugged at something painful in him. It was an abomination of false hope, gathered into one. Hope made all from denial.

Bitter, cold hard truth is what would fix that, wouldn't it?

No matter how much it hurts, and makes one keel over... and even though it can make one fall into denial further.

Nightmare can see this one big risk in Sci's plan.

It was a risk he's unfortunately willing to take.

_**"Cross....please......"** _

The familiar sensation of being dragged into an encounter envelops him as everything turns black and white.

_**THE MOURNING LOYALTY** _

_**LV 6** _

_**HP 125/120** _

_**EXP: 9999999** _

_**DESC.** _

_**His loyalty forever remains, no matter the consequences.** _

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

_'Im sorry'_ Nightmare thinks grimly, as the first move goes to Epic and he has to dodge the incoming wall of bones. _'This is for your own good Epic.'_

His turn comes, and he aims his attacks. Sci said he had to wear the other down, and he had to make the shots count, so the long game it was.

\---------------

In Dreamtale, Shattered stared blankly at the spot where his chi-Faith. Where Faith used to be. Before that skelinkton Paperjam ported them away before he coul-

 _Before you could what, Shattered? Talk to him? Let out all your bottled up feelings? What were you going to do?_ says a whispering voice not unlike his own. He grits his teeth and ignores its amused humming. _Still want to be stubborn? I thought we were long past this, but if you want to go through the reasons why we did alllll over again, who am i to stop you~?_ it titters, a foggy heaviness settling over him. He absolutely despised the feeling of dread and resignation he could feel from the idea of the suggestion alone, and he shoves it all down, away from his mind and into that dark space in his head, leaving it among the other feelings he never wanted to deal with. Not if he wanted to avoid another breakdown.

He didnt have time for those. (A lie, he knew.)

(He had all the time in the multiverse to keep lying to himself, pretending he knew what he wanted and could do what was required to see it come to fruition.)

(He shoves that down too, and locks up that little space again.)

Shattered exhales, deigning to ignore the twisted echo of his voice as it hisses curses at him when he doesnt follow its instructions to open a portal into the Doodlesphere. He twists on his heel, and languidly starts for the forest. He wasnt alone in his once-AU.

If only to appease the guilt, he would see his child and their friend to safety.

(Another lie. He knew it was for his own peace of mind.)

(He never wanted to bring anyone into it in the first place. Never wanted Cross, or his unborn child to be in danger.)

(Never them. Especially them.)

(And if he feels something in his rotted core spark against the corruption at the thought, that was something he didnt need to acknowledge.)

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

**_Cross... where are you..... Cross......._ **

_Epic was trying his hardest to reach the ever stepping away form of Cross, the sound of that familiar laughter reaching his ears, tinged with a concerned voice calling out to him. Cross was calling out to him. He had to be there for him. Epic never left him behind. He would never..._

_**Except you have, haven't you?** _

_**Or rather... perhaps the sentiment wasn't returned.** _

_He nearly stops in his steps... suddenly, the form of his friend wavers... no. No. Please._

\--------------

Nightmare gets the first hit in with his own negative arrow. Normally, this would have been hard to achieve, but he has been gathering uncorrupted negativity for some time now in this room.

The hit makes Epic's next bone attack falter, allowing him to take another shot.

He can't actually tell the exact context of what his negativity may cause. He knows that it should arise some thoughts, but no memories.

\--------------

_**Cross... Cross...** _

_His brothers form wavers further, turning back with a smile towards him, hand stretched out._

_The smell of coffee intensifies._

_\------------------------------------------_

_PJ was formulating a plan in their mind, trying to focus on whatever they may remember of this place. 'There should be one around here...'_

_They can hear how Faith was keeping up with them despite everything, despite faltering..._

_"Frick." they finally mutter, and spun around "Ok. Faith? Your pendant was doing something weird with that guy. Can you... do whatever that was again? To at least make him pause?"_

_"...I don't think that would work again..." Faith mutters, clutching at the purple gemstone placed within silver lining._

_"Well, can you... talk to it?"_

_"Talk to it?" Aaaand now they were looking at them like they had lost their marbles._

_Well._

_Maybe a little._

_Considering they are running for their lives._

_"It's worth a try."_

_Besides, they was having a hunch that it was a clue... to whatever twisted story they may be trapped in now. A clue to move past this scenario into the next at the very least._

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

[PJ always was a wildcard~]///[Shhh!]///[No spoilers!!]

Error twitches his head up a fraction at the sudden chatter from the creators. Why were they talking about PJ in the first place? What in the Void was that brat doing now?! Error swore, not bothering to keep it quiet and tears open a portal into the Doodlesphere. He couldnt do anything to help now, since Sci was adamant that only Nightmare could use whatever it was he made without Faith available, and its not like he could dust Epic and get it over with.

(He didnt want to.)

He's greeted by the sight of his artist opposite curled into a ball on the white floor of the realm, shivering and hacking up a thick flowing liquid--not unlike the ink ones the artist half-regularly threw up when overwhelmed. The hue and shape of the blob was what cued the Destroyer into it being something entirely different though. He quickly wraps the other up into a cocoon and moves away from the formed puddle.

His squid's ink was usually that--a puddle of plain black ink containing his magic essence. But the ones surrounding him right now were a sickly dark yellow color and each upchuck came darker than the last. Oddly, the tainted magic seemed to be slightly gelatinous in appearance. He pokes at it with thick interwoven strings, a disgusted shiver making him cringe at its give.

Yeah, ew. Not doing that again. Definitely a sort of slime though. Ink's continued groaning grabs his attention a,d he hisses when the other upchucks another batch of vomit down on his strings. He doesnt reprimand him though, knowing it was the effect of the corruption on the multiverse and Ink's own fucked up magic biology.

Seems he'll be having to play caretaker for the foreseeable future. But then again, when is he not?

(((writers block is an Ass and is refusing to dESIST-sdlskdlskdlsldsl im gonna go pass out for a couple hours and hope to heck i can start writing again when i wake up)))

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

(((I'm having writers block a bit too so mood)))

Faith clutched at the pendant, and started off with trying to speak to it.

Faith: Ok...so....you're _probably_ my mom, or at least, _probably_ some part of him... or something.

Faith: We really need your help in getting out of here, and to get to the co-ordinates you gave...

Faith: So. Please?

Pendant: ....

Faith: I don't think this is gonna work.

PJ: Hello Faith's mom! Cross! I'm Ink's and Error's son. I mean. Maybe you know about me already? Dunno. But uh. We _reaaallly_ need a clue or something. Come on, pleaaaase?

Pendant: ...

Faith: Um. Mom... my other mom...is not doing well and... *takes in a shuddering breath* I'm really scared.

Faith: I don't know anything about what's going on. I don't know _anything_. I never even met either of you.

Faith: All I know is that people got hurt, and my mom kept grieving for years, and even had times he couldn't look at me because of how much I reminded him of _you_. UncleMare tried to keep it a secret, but he's been hurt all this time because I kept reminding him of his _brother_.

Faith: And I'm angry. I have the right to be angry at this point.

Faith: I'm so damn tired of feeling like I have to pay for peoples past decisions or something, even when people tell me I don't have to. I know I don't have to. It doesn't change how I feel, and it doesn't change that we're probably paying for it now.

Faith: _Even if nothing we did has anything to do with it._

Pendant: *is starting to glow as Faith continues to rant*

Faith: And you know. I'm not blaming you! Well! No! I am NOT blaming you! I actually don't want to have anything to do with blaming ANYONE!

Faith: But NOBODY is explaining a THING!!!

Faith: Like, why is Dream that way? How should I know? How should I feel about this? Am I going to get sacrificed to some other eldritch horror I don't know of? Is that what's happening?

PJ: Uh... Faith...

Pendant: *is glowing brighter*

Faith: Point is!!! I didn't even know what the hell was going on back there!!!!!

PJ: Faith!

Faith: WHAT?!

Pendant: *is now pointing a thin line of white in a direction*

Faith: ...oh.

Faith: ....

Faith: ....Thanks.

Faith: .....i'm not sorry though.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

Unnoticed, and inexplicably amused, Shattered watches from a distance how passionate and lively Faith moves. Even as he rants about his predicament the spark of hopeful joy and resilient determination never once wavered. It made his smirk widen in genuine interest. _If only you could see them now Crossy_ , he sighs, almost but not quite longing, the thought unbidden but not unwelcome.

It was a different kind of painful, Shattered realizes, different from the stab of knives or a blow to the gut. To see how much life marches on, with or without you, and yet have some things stay the same in unexplainable ways. He spots the wisp of white smoke curl and brightens until it catches the two's attention. Again, he feels the same barely-there presence he felt in the fog of white from earlier. A presence who's kept beside him in all the things he's done, even after his descent into corruption and stone. He sees a string extend to him as the children race to follow it further into the forest, settling to curl around his wrist and tugging slightly. How smoke wisps tug at a solid (as solid as goop could be at least) and corporeal body he'd never know.

But, as he takes a step and the mist curls tighter, he thinks it has a reason he's not privy to. Ah well. He'd burn that bridge when he gets to it.

Shattered melts into the shadows.

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

(im really wondering where all this is leading. I really have no clue tbh alkhanlearlwjsd)

They keep running like that... and they find themselves in what looks like an abandoned village. "...Creepy."

The buildings were rundown, but there were traces of life, a few forgotten childrens toys, one of them ripped apart, a dried up bouquet, and there were traces of burnt buildings...Faith briefly remembers about Uncle Killer explaining Uncle Mare's story.

"...Let's try to find a safe place to hide... I'm sure there aren't any ghosts if that's what you're worried about."

Faith pouts at that. "PJ..."

"Aw come on, it's just a lil teasing, ain't it?" PJ looks tired, burnt out somewhat, and Faith takes a moment to think about how PJ is a kid like him too. Just a bit older than him. And he's still helping him like this.

"...PJ?" "Yeah?" "Thank you." "No problem."

\-----------

TK sucks at being a guardian at this moment. He has worked on making sure all the timelines didn't get tangled, made all the timelines stop even as an effort to ensure even as damage is done, once things settled down and get cleared, timelines will resume as normal.

And that's all he can do, really. Watch over these stupid clocks that are leaking. Worry over wether or not they might break, because he doesn't know what he will do then. He has no way of protecting these timelines from getting corrupted, he can only put a pause on them.

....

At least... at least the clock of his Universe looked okay.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

(((b0i you think i do?? m jus feeding the flames and fanning the fire skdjskdjskjdksk what the heck do we do with Epic and Shattered's respective arcs???)))

(((like, im all for their recoveries and the backlash and comfort but HOW DO WE GET THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE WHAT BUTTONS DO WE PUSH LIKE-)))

PJ and Faith walk among the who-knows-how-old rubble, PJ being held back from diving into every house that looked semi-stable for 'timeless treasures' and Faith wondering where the mist would lead them to. (Shattered stayed a few feet behind them, reminiscing and wondering as he passed by the old library, how things ended up the way they did.)

The mist was thinning the longer they walked through the village, and neither of them still had a single clue about what they were supposed to be looking for or where they had to be in. Faith could tell PJ was getting more than a little frustrated, their floating ink blob falling apart more than usual. It could also be because PJ just found a cracked old vase and proceeded to smash it on the ground screaming about 'bullshit creators!' and 'damned plot!' but, Faith shrugs, he had to stay sane somehow. It just so happens that narratives were his coping mechanism.

(Shattered watches in amusement and exasperation, recognizing an energy to PJ that could only be replicated by a certain artist eldritch. Distantly, he wonders how much he's missed in his dear friend's life before abruptly shaking his head, dislodging the thought.)

(((im blanking and on a caffeine high i cannot scenes or plot ksjdksksdkskds)))

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

(((naljb;anwp;tjm;bsfw same hat)))

(((It's like looking at the control panel of a plane, and then wondering if you should tell the others you haven't even taken the pilot test, even though we are airborn already)))

((("Hey-a lovely passengers, don't panic, but I don't know what any of these buttons do.")))

Nightmare was standing over a kneeling Epic, disoriented, still having that golden hue of his brothers drip off of him.

_**"...Cross..."** _

And he takes the shot to the soul.

The despair that suddenly thickened throughout all of the dimension nearly made Nightmare dizzy as Epic screamed.....

Then collapsed on the floor, all sudden and thick despair that Nightmare can feel rushing back and becoming so thick as a cloud, that it physically manifests over the lying form of Epic.

Sci almost immediately rushes over -making Nightmare wonder where he was during all of this- and starts checking. Then there are tears and that makes Nightmare feel panicked as he walks over and grabs the scientist by collar of his lab coat. **"What the hell happened to him."** he demanded.

"He's in a coma." Sci says, expression blank even as the tears fall, speaking of immeasurable guilt, self hatred and hopelessness. "I tried to find any other way. Any other way, and it all leads to this." and a chuckle, clearly manic.

"He was trying to hard to find other alternatives. I thought I had found one. But this out come..." he trails off as Nightmare's grip slackens. "He didn't want Faith to ever have to use the gun. Didn't want Faith involved in any of this."

"The only one who can wake Epic up will most likely be Faith."

"I couldn't save shit."

(im sorry for rushing Epic's plot akdjbr)

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

(((Passengers: *panicc* | Co-pilot: every fucking time i swEA-)))

(s'cool homie im sorry for replying so late my sleep spells were on a roll today)

Within Epic, we see the fog lift for a second.

Just a second.

And its enough to let him see the memory that hurts him most.

It all floods back to him then.

Dream. The seal. Cross. Shattered.

Heartbreak. Grief. Pain. Despair.

_Faith._

And Epic screams alongside the sharp pain in his core, the corruption sloughing off him in bits that crawl back up on his form.

He remembers.

He remembers everything.

And it _hurts so much._

He couldnt deal with this. He wasnt ready to deal with this at all.

(He didnt want to.)

He falls to his knees, curling into a ball and screaming himself hoarse.

It was all so much he wasnt ready he couldnt handle this _he couldnt do it he was too weak he needed-!_

He needed Faith.

Epic chokes on sobs, letting the despair wash over him and drag him under.

If he was lucky, it'd let him forget for a little while longer.

(((jskdjskds okay now what)))

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

((Oooofffff Yes That's The Good Kush))  
((I have a question. Is there a reason why Cross is getting Shattered to follow them?))  
((I was thinking, with the way the story is going along Faith would get the weapon, a whole as sword that has a connection to the Creators needed from the place not even Ink or Error therefore not even PJ can enter))  
((And then Faith could use it on Shattered))

((That's the only reason that makes sense why Cross is getting Shattered to follow them and putting his child in danger.))

Faith shivers, feeling that he has to... he needs to be somewhere.

'Let's get this over with quickly.'

They have been walking throughout this village, following the light but not into death(hopefully), before they finally managed to come to a stop in front of a door.... in the middle of no where.

"I think we need to get into that door..."

"....I don't see anything Faith. What door?" Faith's eyes widen at that.

"B-But it's right there?!"

Faith's mind works quickly, before he finally manages to come to a conclusion.

"Okay okay... just hold my hand." Faith says as he grips the others hand in his, causing PJ to jolt in surprise, and have a pink blush slightly adorn his face before it vanishes.

Faith opens the door... and comes across a giant, expanding landscape of sea and stars, with tall, endless pillars rising out of the water and decorating the landscape.

The door closes behind them and vanishes.

_**The In between, the place of connection between a Creator and its Creation...** _

_**Welcome children,** _

_** To The Metaphorical Plane ** _

\-------------------

Shattered meanwhile stands confused in the now empty plane, wondering where the two children have disappeared to... they have mentioned a door, but Shattered doesn't see any.

(Going down the Cross being a demi-god of sorts route, having the power of Creators passed down by his Creator X Gaster)

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

(((thats exactly what i was aiming for i just didnt know what theyd get when the kids arrived but the sword was so obvious i dont know how i didnt see it skjdksjdksdkskds)))

(((snrk just imagining Shattered confusedly staring at Empty Space and then oops Faith's back and the sword is now in his gut and they just continue staring at each other while Shattered is bleeding out/Faith is bluescreening/PJ is internally freaking out ksjdksjkdskdsjds)))

**_Oh~? Children~? How fun~!///Are they here already!?!///Have we got the thing-?///I'm so excited!!!///Wonder if he'll be able to do it?///He's got to///Yeah but will he?///Oh what if he cant do it~?///  
He should be able to///Unless he wants the worlds to corrupt-///SHHHH NO SPOILERS///They're here!!!_ **

PJ winced, feeling untethered yet heavy as he glanced upwards. The Creator's voices werent normally this loud, as he was long used to blocking them out but wow they were super loud here.

Wherever here was, seeing as Faith dragged them both into this place out of nowhere. He jolts forward, a tightening grip on his hand catching him off balance. Surprised, he looks to Faith, who had wide sockets and was looking straight ahead of them, and so he looks too. And then he understands why Faith was gaping.

It was the most elegant sword he's ever seen.

"A rapier?" Faith wondered. Why was there a rapier...? His eyes widen and he stops in his tracks when the tittering of voices reaches him and he whirls around, summoning his weapon and bringing PJ behind him.

There was nobody there.

The tittering gets louder and he hears even more voices. PJ looked at him in confusion before he shouts a disbelieving "YOU CAN HEAR THEM?!?!?!" to which Faith replies with a bewildered "THEYRE REAL?????"

**_You might want to save this for later~///We can't keep you here for long///You might break into non-existence if you stay long enough huehue~///Dont scare them!///Oh no please do scare them///_ **

Okay they should probably get back to the task. PJ was looking more unnerved by the minute. Faith slants a look back to the rapier, innocently floating in a beam of starlight and water anime style, and his hand itches. He takes a step, and another, and another, until he sees himself reaching for it. Unnoticed, the same misty white that lead them here gathered and floated around him, PJ backing away in slight alarm.

The rapier abruptly drops and Faith is left to catch it by the handle, the action second nature. He makes an awed sound when the sword settled in his grip, the pulsing white misting around him as it does.

He knows what he has to do.

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

"I'm going to stab my father apparently." Faith says, in an almost too calm manner that makes PJ snap his inky exterior, looking at Faith like he grew a second head.

_**What can you do sometimes///It be like dat sometimes///Lmao///That's effective yes///You do what ya gotta do///The day where we encourage a child to stab his own father has come///We should mark it as a day to celebrate** _

"...Is that... anger speaking or something you feel like you really have to be doing?"

"Something I _know_ I have to be doing." and Faith re grabs PJ's hand, and walks back.

"...Well as your friend I should support whatever decisions you make..."

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

"Thank you," Faith says, still far too calm for it to be proper, but PJ knows he cant dissuade them. "Let's go."

This time PJ sees a rectangular door shimmer into place where Faith leads them and huffs. The Creators could be so unnecessarily flashy sometimes. Oh well. Nothing he can do.

They reach the door as it opens and see...

...

...

...

Shattered.

Turned away from them.

The perfect moment.

Faith drops PJ's hand and leaps forward.

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

The act of thrusting the sword forward is instinctive, like someone is guiding him.

The steel weapon feels light in his hand.

Starting to glow as well.

He can see Shattered turn towards him, slowly.

But the sound of slicing rings through the air, and he can feel the sword slide through the target he was going for.

Shattered's SOUL.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

(((do we kill them off for realsies this time? or just banish them to whatever afterlife there is for outcodes? do we kill them off for real???? WRITES!!! does Dreamer get reborn?? what do we do with Cross if he does???? I NEED ANSWERS KDSJKDJSK)))

Shattered feels odd.

As in, he felt floaty. Floaty and light and oddly warm?

What happened to him? Did he lose a fight with his brother or something?

He didnt know.

All he knew was that he felt better than he had in a really long-ass time.

He makes a confused noise and opens his eye lights-when did he close them? he doesnt remember-and his sockets go wide.

He was in a beautiful field of wildflowers as far as you could see.

He felt instantly at peace here.

Like nothing could go wrong, that he was safe.

But something was still odd.

There was...an emptiness he couldnt explain.

Like something was missing.

Something important.

But that couldnt be right, could it?

Everything was right here, wasnt it?

...

...

...

He'd believe it so if not for the painful clench in his core.

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

His vision clears, to the sight of his childs crying face, holding the sword buried in his SOUL.

"...Faith."

But... was he worthy of being this Faith's father? When he had never been there for him?

When he had so blatantly abandoned him for the past?

"...Dad." Faith speaks, expression determinedly neutral even despite the tears and the shakiness in his voice. "..I'm not sorry."

Dream chuckles at that, pained, but what's a little pain? "That's fair." as he feels himself dust he feels the regret he was burying away wash over him. "...When your mother told me he was pregnant with you.... I had never been so happy..." bitterly, he speaks "...I shouldn't have thrown that happiness away... for the sake of a past I cannot change...."

"For that... I owe you....and Cross.....and Nightmare... an apology..."

"...For my selfishness.... and the suffering I caused due to it...."

".......Just! Just go and be happy with Cross dammit!"

He blinks in shock.

"You regret what you did right?! Cross-mom-he still loved you even after what you've done! Uncle Nightmare kept missing you! Mom-Epic- will probably want to kill you himself if you tried to apologize to him-" Faith takes in a deep breath. "You're a terrible dad." and his voice sounds raw, broken.

"But you regret that now."

"So."

"So just go and be happy with mom."

Dream feels tears go down his face as he feels the hands of Death envelope him and another soul...

"And leave without regrets!!!"

He breaks into a smile through his tears in Cross's arms.

"...Thank you...."

_"Thank you."_

_"We love you."_

\-------------------

Reaper stood in front of the two children, letting the two now resting SOULs go into his robes.

"...Kid..."

Faith doesn't look up. He doesn't want to. He clings to the sword now stabbed to the ground, the only physical support he has at that moment.

Pieces of him feel so so empty, his hands trembling over the hilt of the steel that now feels heavy in his hands.

He feels PJ's arm wrap around his shoulders.

"...Just cry." Reaper finally says with deep solemnity, and Faith hitches a breath.....

and then.

Just.

Cries.

\-------------------

Reaper gives them a moment. An hour, before he wears the bracelet Epic had made for him, and wraps his arms around the two children, enveloping them in a gloomy mist that brings them to the medical room Sci and Nightmare had put Epic in.

Faith scrubs at the tear tracks left beneath his eye sockets as he looks towards Epic, where Nightmare is standing over him, trying to mediate the despair plaguing Epic in order to ensure the coma doesn't get worse.

"What happened to mom?"

Sci takes a deep breath from where he's sitting on a chair, looking deep with regret.

Then he explains.

And Faith listens.

And Faith stares at him with a blank expression as Sci explains how he's going to have to shoot Epic in the SOUL with technology that won't actually kill Epic.

....

He thinks hilarity might be creeping up on him, though he doesn't laugh at all nor feels like laughing, when all he could think of is how he plunged that sword into his father's soul.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

(((hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhOW DARE THAT MAKE ME LEGITIMATELY TEAR UP HOW _DARE-_ )))

Sci braces himself for the crying, the screaming, the yelling, the accusations.

But nothing comes.

He looks up, face grim and haunted, to meet Faith's equally harried expression--something that shouldnt have to be on any child's face--and kicks himself a little more, to which Nightmare slaps him upside the skull for. Faith gives a hollow chuckle at that, still riding the wave of shock and numbness, feeling detached from his reality.

Which is no surprise, seeing as he's been through a heck of a lot of shit and has yet to deal with the fallout of it all, and comes home to another of his family in danger.

So, you know, not really boosting his mood any but it could be worse.

(He tries not to think about how much worse this could all become if he hadnt _shoved a sword through his father_ \--no dont think of that. Not yet.)

(Silver flakes from his hands.)

Faith shakes his head to suppress the tickle in his throat and takes a step to hold onto Sci for a grounding hug.

(He didnt want to bust out laughing while his mom was maybe probably laying on his deathbed, nor did he want to start sobbing on the spot.)

He honestly didnt know what would happen if he opened his mouth, so he didnt.

He'd let himself grieve and all that jazz after this was _over_ and they were finally _safe._

(((i cant stop rereading the death scene how dare it be so painfully sweet hhhhhhhhhhhhh poor babies can finally be happy hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh)))

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

(((I FEEL PRIDE)))

It takes PJ tapping at his knuckles and gently start prying them away to get Faith to realize he still hasn't letted go of the sword _the murder weapon_ , and he finally just takes the neutralizer into his hand.

"So. This won't kill him."

"It won't." Sci confirms.

"...And I need to channel positivity in the process of it."

"Yes." Sci then adds. "...I've tried to find other ways..." Faith cuts in. "It's not your fault. Besides... moms pretty powerful so it's not like you had the option to wait or something like that." Faith continues his steady, calm breathe. The trick is to keep breathing when you want to keep yourself under control.

He's holding the gu-....the neutralizer.... it feels big in his hands. Too big.

Then, the lavender tinted hands of Nightmare touch his and he flinches. UncleMare's voice blares through his hearing canals "I can help you hold it."

"....Please." Because his bones are shaking, and even as he can feel the others looking at him he can't bring himself to move. His mind knows what he wants to do-he just-

His body just doesn't want to listen to him.

It doesn't matter. Not now.

Nightmare fixes how he holds the tranquilizer. Then, UncleMare bends as he puts his hands on Faith's wrist in a gentle, loose but firm hold, bringing it up to level with the beating SOUL of Epic's.

Faith keeps his breathing steady.

And he thinks about how hard Epic tried for him.

He thinks about how much Epic had came forward for him.

He thinks about his mom who has been there for him, loved him and raised him all these years and charges all that into the handle, that transfers it straight to the memory crystals.

Nightmare helps him take proper aim and he fires without thinking of anything else.

\--------------

_**Faith....** _

_**"Mom."** _

_**!** _

_**"I'm here."** _

_**"And I really need you right now."** _

_**"Please, please come back to me."** _

\--------------

_A parent who truly loves and cherishes their child..._

_To the point they will live for them, and not look towards death upon Despair..._

_That is wonderful, is it not?_

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

(((AS YOU SHOULD HHHHHHHHH IM STILL REELING FROM AN ANGST DRABBLE AND I READ THIS AND HHHHHHHHHHHHHH FUCKING OW MOTHER OF FUCK SHIT MY HEART)))

(((SO FUCKING TEMPTED TO CUT OFF HERE BUT NO WE GOTTA HEALING AND TRAUMA RECOVERY BC THEY TOO GOOD TO PASS UP ON KSJDKSKS)))

Faith tries not to crumple down on the ground because _oh dear stars he **stabs his father** and then **shoots his mom in the soul dead center** what the fuck was wrong with him-?_

No. _No._ It was necessary. It is necessary. He has to do this. He needs to. Sci said nobody else could.

...he needs to do it for mom.

So he holds his breath after the shot releases. After the room is blinded by the resulting light. After the gu-neutralizer falls from his limp grip.

He holds his breath as he feels Uncle Mare shaking, holds it as the silence deafens the room, ignores the want for air as the steady beeping from the soul monitor erratically shifts in rhythm.

As the beeping lengthens and quiets.

And releases it when the beat finally, _finally_ stabilizes into steady repetitive drumming.

He focuses his sight--when did he get on a chair?--to the other occupants of the room. Sci, looking loads brighter already, PJ, melting with relief...

...and Uncle Mare, dripping lavender tears down his face and reaching for him as his sobs echo in the infirmary.

Faith is thankful when he holds him, because how could he not? The contact was the only thing keeping him together at this point.

He struggles to push back his sobs, push them down, save it for later, but when his uncle shushes him and holds him closer, Faith feels himself crack a little more, and he wails.

\------------

Nightmare didnt know what was more painful.

Seeing his beloved family in pain, or feeling their pain and his as he does.

But no that wasnt important. He was needed right now, his turn to be strong, be the pillar they need.

He had work to do, but his family came first.

He could allow himself to break later, after he made sure everyone and everything was alright again.

(He didnt want to fail them like he did with Dream.)

(He ignores the cold ache in his chest.)

\---------

(((boi.....what if.....Epic.....doesnt....wake up from the coma.....until like, a week or two later....bc he has to recover from the corruption still sloughing off from him.....and when he does......he has....temporary retrograde amnesia.....and doesnt at all....remember anything....relating to Shattered.....or Faith.....and his last clear memory is of Cross waving to him......thoughts???)))

(((i just wanna make em sweat a little more but i feel so bad but also not but also i rlly like the amnesia trope bc angst and jdbvhkfabhksflb)))

(((we dont gotta ofc bc im craving the fluffs but like...thoughts on an alternate route maybe???)))

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

(((Kind of would be more frustrating than angsty for me in that case. Like, pointless angst for me I guess?)))

(((We could make an alternate route, with a separate thread though, and then lose whatever remains of our sanity.)))

Epic's voice echoes, tired, soft, searching "Faith?..."

Faith doesn't dare breath. And only does so when Nightmare moves.

He looks up and sees Nightmare holding Epic's hand. "...Nightmare..." Epic's voice is more dismayed this time, and it makes Nightmare chuckle wetly.

"Even when I can't see I can still tell that distasteful aura...."

"So now you're blind?"

"Faith?" Epic ignores Nightmare's question, and starts to sit up, wincing like he has a throbbing headache.

"Mom." Faith says, getting off from the chair and almost immediately running. " _Mom._ "

Finally.

He hugs him, and Epic lets go of Nightmare in favor of wrapping his arms around Faith, bringing him up and onto his lap as the child buries their face into his ribs.

"Hey baby. Sorry I haven't been around for a while." he squeezes them like he's afraid to let go. "I'm not leaving again. That was a terrible idea."

Faith chokes wetly, and then their voice, muffled, comes through. "Can we... not talk? I just want to stay here."

A moment of silence before Epic chuckles as well. "Yeah. Me too."

Sci, Nightmare and Reaper and PJ give them their moment of privacy.

\--------------

Ink and Error almost immediately grab PJ the moment they step outside, and just do a family hug together. "You stupid, stupid child!!!" Ink mutters fervently. He was supposed to be lying down in another room, recovering from Shattered's corruption, but screw it. PJ was here.

Error silently hugs them both.

Meanwhile, Reaper explains to Nightmare and Sci what Faith had to do in order to resolve the corruption.

Nightmare doesn't blame Faith. Only regrets that a child was stuck in a situation like that.

\--------------

It turns out Epic's blindness isn't temporary. The corruption had exhausted his magic, and had also eaten away at the one in his left eye.

He isn't bothered too much by this though, he's just prone to actually sleeping now, and works a lot less.

He doesn't blame Sci, and instead thanks him. "You actually found _some_ kind of alternative, and did your best not to get Faith involved... so thank you."

Even though he's blind, he's still famous as the Mage Who Overcame The Touch Of Death.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

(((s aite it was just a passing thought lol im satisfied with this turn of events more heh)))

(((this was so wholesome to read like, awwwwwwwww happy ending for everyoneee)))

\------

Faith still has nightmares sometimes.

Of how bad everything was, how much worse it couldve been.

On those days he sticks extra close to Epic, and Epic silently offers his presence.

They both grow a little closer, a little more solid after those.

Nightmare starts training him a few times a week.

Turns out the sword was made of condensed light and emotions.

 _Positive_ emotions.

And now that sword has decided to stick with Faith, and not vanish into light fragments like PJ bet it would.

He keeps it in his room, in the back of his closet. Until he's willing to use it at least.

For now, he contents himself with learning how to channel his positive spirit with his uncle.

Its not too far from meditation actually.

PJ joins them sometimes. Says it calms him down.

(Faith doesnt see the light flushing of his face when he says that, but Nightmare does.)

(Night doesnt say anything though, smirking when PJ scowls lightly at him.)

(Its rather amusing to watch.)

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

Faith just... can't touch the hilt of the sword without remembering how it felt like stabbing Shattered.

The nightmares....

They're always him driving that sword through someone he cares about.

And Dream was someone he cared about, even though he never got the chance to properly know him.

\--------

Epic: Listen here PJ.

PJ: Uuuuh yeah Mr. Epic?

Epic, terrifying smile: You better treat my kid right.

PJ: .....Not that I'm not terrified, but or what?

Epic: I beat death's touch, I will leave what I can do up to your imagination.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

PJ: duly noted sir  
Epic: good man  
PJ: does this mean i can ask them out?  
Epic: thats up to them now isnt it?  
PJ: well yeah but can i?  
Epic, murder in his eyes: i dunno can you?  
PJ: ...i'll...go ask them then......

He can feel Epic's stare as he leaves the room.

Man is he glad death glares arent literal.

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

im just imagining Epic finding a way to make death glares literal skssksksksksksksksks

It takes a good long while for Faith to figure out the different kinds of positivities he feels from people.

Ones directed to him, ones directed to another, mutual positivity etc.

It's harder for him because he's not as sensitive as Dream was, the potency of others positivity filtered by his own SOUL that he was born with.

Eventually after he manages to gain more friends, he manages to discern that the positivity PJ directs towards him is...a bit more fluid? More certain perhaps, snapped into place and unwavering. Like an unmovable mountain...

He's not sure what this means though.

Unclemare is no help either.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

snrrk goodluck Pj may the stars bless you lmao

Faith: what does it mean when its like that Uncle Mare?  
Nightmare, smirking: what do you think it means?  
Faith: i...dont know?? thats why im asking you????  
Nightmare, smirking wider: maybe keep an eye out and find out for yourself?  
Faith: that answers nothing uncle what the heck  
Nightmare: answers will come when you can handle them  
Faith: i wanted an explanation not some eldritch-type life advice

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

At some point they're stuck together and PJ confesses and Faith freezes for a moment,

before just turning brigh like a lightbulb

"Oh. OH. That explains a lot of things."

PJ: The heck kind of response is that to my confession?!

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

Faith: no i just--this makes so much more sense now!  
PJ: Faith, that doesnt exactly inspire confidence you know  
Faith: did Uncle Mare know? was that why he was so cryptic?  
PJ: i don-  
Faith: *le gasp* did MOM know?! why didnt i ask hi first oh stars-  
PJ: Faith. Fait-  
Faith: oh no oh stars what do i-i gotta tell mom  
PJ: OH NO PLE-  
Faith: yeah thats a great idea! mom will know what to do *poofs away*  
PJ: i-what-we-what???

(Error and Nightmare were totally watching the entire thing from a window in goopboi's living space, with Ink holding back a vibrating Epic.)

(That was too good not to be watched. Definitely gonna save that one in the album.)

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

(Nightmare has put his face in his hands and Error is laughing very hard.)

(They're both 18 to 20 at this point Epic baby bird needs to fly out of the nest at SOME point sksksksks)

After this, if they actually do manage to get together, PJ is going to ignore him a bit because he will be so mad like.

"PJ?..."

"...."

"PJ I'm sorry~"

"..."

"PJ please don't ignore me~"

PJ, thinking: _Suffer for the panic you cause me_

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

pffff!

im just seeing a pouting PJ while Faith pokes at them at odd intervals and whining for PJ to "forgive my idiocy please~?" and constantly snarking at him with "i'll get you some of those printer inks you like so much" to which PJ playfully scowls and scooches away from Faith even more and falling off the couch instead and then when Faith bursts into wheezing laughter PJ cracks a teeny smile at him bc fucking stars Faith was too adorable to stay mad at skjdksjdkdks

"HAH! I SAW THAT SNEAKY SKELINKTON!"

"YOU SAW NOTHIN--DAMMIT!"

"PFFFFT!"

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

Epic is going to have the urge to strangle PJ several times even after accepting the relationship. One thing that shows he's not a threat is that he's not creating devices that work specifically against skelinktons, or Error, or Ink.

it might be that Sci and Nightmare stop him of course sksksksksks

There is also Epic being blind, which might be a slight hindrance to his projects. Sci's a good listener at least, as well as Sci!Papyrus.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

sdskdksdkss of course they do

Sci's learned to listen very well when Epic's instructing.

Nobody wants a repeat of The Incident. Nightmare especially.

Took them two months to even make a dent in the goop that flooded the place.

Last time he'd mess around without Epic's specified instructions for sure.

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

Epic despite being blind sometimes forgets he's not invincible like-

Faith: Mom... MOM! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

Epic: *dangling off the ledge, hand blindly stretched out to grab the bark of a tree that's wiggling like it's alive* Hm?

Nightmare is constantly keeping watch over Epic because of the stunts this blind mad man pulls.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

snrrkkk

me thinks Nightmare at one point just commissions Sci to make a tracker hed give to Epic for his own peace of mind bc if he had to stop the bastard from falling off yet another terrace he was going to _scream_

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

_"Hello Reaper-"_

"I found Epic."

_"....Thank you. Where was he this time?"_

"Dunno how, but he somehow ended up in Dinotale and managed to make the Dinosaurs advance into civilization."

_"I'm going to lose whatever sanity I have left the longer this keeps going on I **swear** -"_

"He's being referred to as the wise oracle or something. He's practically worshipped. It's pretty impressive actually."

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

At this point, Epic's reputation just keeps growing with every new thing he makes--both science and magic-wise.

He's also known for his tenacity to keep surprising people with said achievements.

Except for his family.

Who knew that some of his greatest feats were made by the sheer dumbassery two caffeinated, sleep-deprived scientists came up with when they were supposed to be working on an entirely different project.

Because they witnessed said dumbassery to keep said dumbasses from blowing up the lab. Again.

Nightmare was very strict with the instructions he left the glorified babysitters.

Namely: Not to let Sci tinker with the coffee machine. No more than five cups every ten hours for BOTH. If Reaper comes bearing more coffee kick him out. Please for the love of everything do NOT LET SCI MESS WITH THE DAMNED COFFEE MACHINE. Make them take their scheduled naps (They know their hours. Use force if necessary.) and keep Epic INSIDE THE LAB AT ALL TIMES.

Will need updates every so often to know if you are alive.

Please follow the guidelines given upon agreement to the task.

Sincerely,  
Nightmare  
Guardian of Negativity

P.S-If by some way, Reaper gives Sci another coffee-high and you cannot find Epic inside the labs, follow the map to the safe bunker and send "Code Brown" to this number IMMEDIATELY. Thank you and good luck.

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

johi vilo;hbvhigu

the poor baby sitters

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

i accidentally made it

with horror game vibes in mind?

and i dont know what to do now that its out there skjksjdkd

except hope that the babysitters have the patience of a _saint-_

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

it could be a game simulation game or something skskskskskksksks

Epic, frolicking on a roof top: No worries Nightmare Sci is my spotter!

Nightmare: THAT DOES NOT COMFORT ME

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

Epic proceeds to slip off of said rooftop while Nightmare screeches curses.

(He landed in a bush, and had to shake his skull free of leaves and little berries.)

(Things fluttering around in your skull was NOT a pleasant sensation.)

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

Nightmare: That's what you get bitch.

Anyway, besides Epic's dumbassery, and the rumors that go around about Epic and Nightmare practically being married ( _crack ship crack ship crack ship_ ) they all manage to live happily ever after...

In another universe, two children are born from different families in the same village.

They see each other at 5 years old.

And now they have a bond...

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

( _crack ship crack ship cRACK SHIP CRACK SHI-_ )

(((GASP YES OMYGOSH YES)))

Faith is extremely amused but also weirded out when people ask him if Nightmare was Epic's datemate.

Bc no?? Thats my uncle???? Epic's my mom???? _Why do you keep asking-?_

PJ cackles every time this happens and each time is appropriately punished with no cuddles for the entire evening.

\--------------

...

...

...

The villagers didnt think much of it--theyre children! Children are nothing to be suspicious of. And if they make friends then great! Good for them!

But even theyve noticed how these two are just...inexplicably close. As if drawn to each other.

It was perplexingly adorable to see how they just clicked, even more so when they both grew past their toddling years.

Where one goes, the other follows. When one strays, the other is there to guide them back to the proper way.

They were like twins honestly, despite looking like total opposites. "Attached at the hip!" the elders often said about them.

One was known to be bright and cheerful, while the other was quieter and had a more mature aura to him.

The villagers knew children were very special gifts.

It just seemed as if they were gifts to each other especially.

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

_Soooouuuulmaaaaaates_

says one of the elderly, moving their wrinkly hands around mystically with a comical expression.

_It's not that complicated._

they proceed to tell the other villagers with a deadpan voice.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

the villagers are dubious of the claim but jokingly accept it well enough.

the elderly was often wise about these things after all.

(thats what they told the kids at least)

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

"Hello stranger that came out of what looks like a hole in reality!" the same elderly greets a grown up PJ, like at the age of 20 "Sorry for the screaming and weapon pointing. My people have forgotten to be polite with guests."

"Ah.. no, screaming and pointing weapons is the normal reaction I'm sure. I've been looking for two certain individuals who are soulmates to each other around here..?"

The skelinkton feels horribly amused as the elderly turns towards the rest of the villagers and goes in a deadpan voice "You see? You will now know I am always right about these things."

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

YES

DEAR STARS ABOVE _Y E S_

also im loving how chill this One Elder is lmao

PJ is lead to a beautiful clearing, wildflowers with striking colors from just about anywhere you could see.

In the clearing, he finds two children with their backs to him, one excitedly gesturing and the other nodding every so often.

He can hear giggles and faint whispering and he smiles, distracting the other curious children who tagged along with an ink blob while the elder who greeted him lead him through the village and to the clearing.

It was about time he found them.

_The Creators whispered of a happy ending after all._

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

Credits roll, with pictures;

Faith coming through another portal, and sitting down with PJ and the two children that are the reincarnation of his parents, both of them wearing flower crowns.

Epic and Nightmare making a toast to each other in front of a fireplace within the castle, the giant balcony showing a clear starry night sky in the universe they're in.

Steady, rhythmic and sleeping dim glow of the sword at the back of Faith's closet.

Red and Sci lying down against each other on a couch, the sun just starting to rise in their universe.

Goth helping his dad out with his job, both father and son sharing a sandwich Geno made for them, Goth chewing while reading, the souls floating around them.

Time Kid getting help from Chronicle, Memory and Core!Frisk in having the timelines put back together, crying in relief while hugging his own universes thankfully mended clock.

Error and Ink sitting together in an old cottage like house in another universe, watching the screen Error pulls up of how their kids are doing while Ink brings hot chocolate.

What else what else...

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

i fucking heard the gravity falls intro ksjdksjdkskdsjkdjk

AND I HATE HOW I LOVE HOW FUCKING WELL IT FIT WITH THE MONTAGE I SAW IN MY HEAD GODDDDD

(The last shot is of a dark place. Darker than you'd think was possible.)

(The music is slightly distorted--just enough to make you notice something was off.)

(A silhouette of a face greets you as you watch the credits glitch.)

(The face is familiar to you, but your head aches as you stare.)

(A mouth tears open, glowing a neon purple.)

(The screen goes black. But not before something flashes.)

(👎⚐ ✡⚐🕆 🕈✌☠❄ ❄⚐ 🏱☹✌✡ 👍☼☜✌❄⚐☼✍)

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

**THE END(?-**

"NOPE!!" a voice suddenly exclaims, a figure barging in from behind the scene and slapping away the question mark sign at the end of it.

It is PJ.

"NO!" he says again, pointing at the audience sternly. _"No!"_

Then, he disappears.

....

**THE END!**

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

*CUE CURTAINS CLOSING AND A JAZZY OUTRO TUNE AS THE AUDIENCE (WHO APPEAR TO BE FLUIDLY SHIFTING FROM ONE FORM TO THE NEXT) CONFUSEDLY APPLAUDS*

,ckxckxkjxkck PJ be sick of our shit kjkjdckdjclsa

IT WAS FOR THE PLOT WE PROMISE KDJKDJFKDKFD

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

........

the curtains briefly open to show small lettering

'maybe sometime else in the future ;)'

PJ's voice comes in yet again "I SEE THAT!"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

'oh ok :('

then finally it actually ends, and the audience wait in silence for a minute, wearily looking at the closed curtains...

Before they finally get up and leave.

PJ do be sick of our shit alnrepkaljnds he finally got a boyfriend let it end at that.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

skksjdkssk and so ends the tale of Shattered Faith jdsvlsdvdlddsv

(UR WELCOME FOR THE BOYFRIEND PJ)

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

My favorite highlight in this movie is Epic being the best parental unit he can be while doing his best to put his grudges aside for the sake of his child.

This all started with Epic having onee-san vibes.

***********************

Caffeinated_blood:

jdskjdkssks it did what the hecc

Epic is just that reliable

(Nightmare will argue this point. Ignore him. xoxo, Epic)

***********************

writingforFUNandbecauseBoredom:

(Epic, get back to work :) - Nightmare)

***********************

_ **THE END!** _


End file.
